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THE   BALDWIN   LECTURES,    1909 


MODERN    THOUGHT    AND    THE 
CRISIS    IN    BELIEF 


•The 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK    •    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO 
ATLANTA   ■    SAN    FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON    •    BOMBAY   •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


THE  BALDWIN  LECTURES.  1909 


MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE 
CRISIS  IN  BELIEF 


^kV(JF  phwc:^^ 


;*     OCT  5   1909 

BY 


R.  M.  WENLEY 

D.Phil.,  Hon.  LL.D.  (Glas.),  Sc.D.,  F.R.S.  (Edin.), 
Hon.  Litt.D.  (Hobart) 


Nefa  gork 

THE   MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

1909 

A!i  rights  reserved 


Copyright,  1909, 
Ry  the  MACMILLAN   COMPANY. 

Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  March,  1909. 


NorSuooU  ^tcss 

J.  S.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 

Norwood,  Mass.,  IT.S.A. 


"La  pensee  semble  d'abord  n'etre  que  Tesquisse  affaiblie 
des  choses;  elle  est  mieux :  elle  en  est  Tidealisation  vivante, 
en  voie  de  realisation  " 

—  FonilUe. 


"  The  historic  personage 
Put  by,  leaves  prominent  the  impulse  of  his  age ; 
Truth  sets  aside  speech,  act,  time,  place,  indeed,  but  brings 
Nakedly  forward  now  the  principle  of  things 
Highest  and  least." 

—  Brownhig. 


"  Und  diess  Geheimniss  redete  das  Leben  selber  zu  mir : 
'  Siehe,'  sprach  es,  '  ich  bin  Das,  was  sich  immer  selber  liber- 
winden  muss.' " 

—  Nietzsche. 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   FOUNDATION   AND 

EXTRACT   FROM  THE   DEED    OF 

TRUST 

Having  regard  to  the  peculiar  conditions  at  the 
State  Universities,  where  students  of  all  denomina- 
tions stand  on  an  equal  footing,  and  where,  there- 
fore, no  theological  faculties  can  be  erected,  the 
Right  Reverend  Samuel  Smith  Harris,  Bishop  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  Diocese  of 
Michigan,  in  1885,  executed  a  Deed  of  Trust  with 
certain  influential  laymen  of  his  diocese.  This  was 
one  of  the  first  steps  in  what  is  known  as  the  Guild 
Movement,  now  widespread  and  still  growing. 
The  Guilds  are  representative  of  the  various  denom- 
inations, and,  as  a  rule,  maintain  their  own  halls, 
with  libraries,  reading  rooms,  gymnasia,  etc.,  as 
headquarters  for  their  students,  and  as  centres  of 
religious  activity  supplementary  to  their  local 
churches.  Lectureships  often  form  a  part  of  their 
plan.  Thus,  as  a  result  of  Bishop  Harris's  efforts, 
Harris  Hall  was  built  and  endowed,  to  be  the  head- 
quarters   for    all    members    and    adherents    of   the 


Vlll  ORIGIN    OF   THE    FOUNDATION 

Protestant  Episcopal  Church  who  are  teachers  or 
students  in  the  University  of  Michigan.  The 
Hobart  Guild  was  instituted  to  use  and  to  govern 
the  Hall.  The  Baldwin  and  Slocum  Lectureships 
were  founded,  with  adequate  subventions,  due  also 
to  Bishop  Harris's  enthusiasm.  They  are  delivered 
in  alternate  years. 

The  portion  of  the  Deed  aforesaid,  relating  to  the 
Baldwin  Lectures,  runs  as  follows :  — 

"Now,  therefore,  I,  the  said  Samuel  Smith 
Harris,  Bishop  as  aforesaid,  do  hereby  give,  grant, 
and  transfer  to  the  said  Henry  P.  Baldwin,  Alonzo 
B.  Palmer,  Henry  A.  Hayden,  Sidney  D.  Miller, 
and  Henry  P.  Baldwin,  2d,  Trustees  as  aforesaid, 
the  said  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars  to  be  invested 
in  good  and  safe  interest-bearing  securities,  the  net 
income  thereof  to  be  paid  and  applied  from  time  to 
time  as  hereinafter  provided,  the  said  sum  and  the 
income  thereof  to  be  held  in  trust  for  the  following 
uses : — 

"i.  The  said  fund  shall  be  known  as  the  En- 
dowment Fund  of  the  Baldwin  Lectures. 

"2.  There  shall  be  chosen  annually  by  the 
Hobart  Guild  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  upon 
the  nomination  of  the  Bishop  of  Michigan,  a  learned 
clergyman  or  other  communicant  of  the  Protestant 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    FOUNDATION  IX 

Episcopal  Church,  to  deliver  at  Ann  Arbor  and 
under  the  auspices  of  the  said  Hobart  Guild,  be- 
tween the  Feast  of  St.  Michael  and  All  Angels  and 
the  Feast  of  St.  Thomas,  in  each  year,  not  less  than 
six  nor  more  than  eight  lectures,  for  the  EstabHsh- 
ment  and  Defence  of  Christian  Truth;  the  said  lec- 
tures to  be  published  in  book  form  by  Easter  of 
the  following  year,  and  to  be  entitled  'The  Baldwin 
Lectures';  and  there  shall  be  paid  to  the  said  lec- 
turer the  income  of  the  said  endowment  fund,  upon 
the  delivery  of  fifty  copies  of  said  lectures  to  the  said 
Trustees  or  their  successors;  the  said  printed  vol- 
umes to  contain,  as  an  extract  from  this  instrument, 
or  in  condensed  form,  a  statement  of  the  object  and 
conditions  of  this  trust." 


PREFACE 

Speaking  in  the  House  of  Commons  several  years 
ago,  that  eminent  and  devoted  churchman,  Lord 
Hugh  Cecil,  expressed  himself  as  follows:  "On  all 
sides  there  are  signs  of  decay  of  the  Faith.  People 
do  not  go  to  church,  or,  if  they  go,  it  is  for  the  sake 
of  the  music,  or  for  some  non-religious  motive.  The 
evidence  is  overwhelming  that  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity  have  passed  into  the  region  of  doubt." 
Once  more,  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle  has  affirmed: 
"There  are,  perhaps,  few  things,  and  certainly 
nothing  of  similar  moment,  about  which  men  give 
themselves  so  little  trouble,  and  take  such  little 
pains,  as  the  ascertainment,  by  strict  examination, 
of  the  foundations  and  the  evidences  of  their  reli- 
gion." Outspoken  and  weighty  statements  by  re- 
sponsible persons  seldom  lack  foundation  in  fact. 
Accordingly,  in  these  Lectures,  I  have  attempted  a 
partial  review  of  the  situation,  so  far  as  my  narrow 
limits  permit.  Thus,  in  Lecture  I,  I  have  drawn 
attention  to  the  alterations  that  overtake  reflective 
constructions  of  belief.     In  Lectures  II-IV,  I  have 


Xll  PREFACE 

made  an  effort  to  summarize  movements  that  justify 
Lord  Hugh  Cecil's  declaration.  But,  as  I  have 
borne  no  part  in  the  work  of  physical  science  and 
higher  criticism,  I  am  able  only  to  indicate  the  pres- 
ent view  from  the  conclusions  of  others.  In  Lec- 
tures V-VIII,  I  have  essayed,  in  my  own  way,  the 
examination  suggested  by  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle. 
I  cannot  pretend  to  expert  familiarity  with  theology, 
so  I  have  deemed  it  wiser  to  abandon  this  stand- 
point, represented  most  adequately  by  many  others, 
and  have  confined  myself  to  matters  where  I  am 
more  at  home. 

It  is  obvious,  to  students  at  least,  that  we  are 
passing  through  a  stage  of  transition  where  hazards 
beset  beHef.  Of  course,  I  am  well  aware  that  a 
broad  distinction  survives  between  the  "beliefs  of 
the  vulgar  and  of  the  learned,"  as  they  have  been 
called.  But,  under  the  educational  arrangements 
prevalent  now,  —  and  these  Lectures  are  to  hold 
them  in  special  remembrance,  —  it  tends  to  fade, 
with  two  results.  On  the  one  hand,  some  who  deem 
themselves  'learned'  hug  the  idea  that  religion  has 
become  a  negligible  quantity.  Their  learning  has 
not  matured  enough  to  make  manifest  the  deeps  of 
our  remanent  ignorance.  On  the  other  hand,  many 
are  puzzled,  often  distressed  beyond  measure,  by 


PREFACE  XIU 

the  metamorphic  process  coincident  with  enquiry. 
They  resent  the  stress  placed  upon  natural  piety, 
and  so  they  blink  the  issue,  to  sore  harm  of  the  re- 
ligious cause ;  or,  unappreciative  of  what  knowledge 
has  gleaned,  they  cling  to  belief  of  such  a  character 
that,  under  assault,  it  can  scarce  be  distinguished 
from  the  despair  of  a  last  resort.  These  are  sad 
hazards. 

It  were  useless,  possibly  dangerous,  to  keep  the 
'vulgar'  in  ignorance  of  the  "wood,  hay,  stubble  — 
man's  work,"  and  therefore  subject  to  loss,  especially 
as  we  still  stand  on  the  threshold  of  some  scientific 
and  historical  studies,  more  particularly  those 
destined  to  affect  our  views  of  the  conditions  and 
nature  of  self-consciousness,  and  of  the  precise 
environment  whereout  the  New  Testament  and 
early  Christianity  sprang.  It  were  cruel,  possibly 
criminal,  to  keep  the  'learned'  in  ignorance  of  "the 
things  which  cannot  be  shaken,"  for,  in  preoccupa- 
tion with  corners  of  the  garden,  they  are  apt  to  miss 
a  just  estimate  of  their  own  general  presuppositions. 
As  a  student,  speaking  in  an  academic  community,  I 
have  tried  to  show  why,  and  to  indicate  some  reasons 
for  doubting  doubt  that  remains  merely  destruc- 
tive. At  the  same  time,  my  readers  must  bear  in 
mind  that  Lectures  addressed  to  a  general  audience 


XIV  PREFACE 

cannot  be  more  than  tentative.  This  ought  to  be 
realized  especially  in  connexion  with  the  purely 
illustrative  uses  to  which  I  have  put  the  ethical 
consciousness. 

Nobody  knows  so  well  as  I  the  inadequacy  of  my 
equipment  for  this  difficult  task;  and  few  can  have 
had  better  reason  to  know  how  its  prosecution  calls 
down  anathemas  alike  from  defenders  of  "the  faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints"  —  for  whom  religion 
has  achieved  finality  —  and  from  rationalists  who,  in 
their  horror  of  the  sympathetic  fallacy,  cherish  the 
notion  that  technical  research  can  accomplish  a  per- 
fect work.  These  I  cannot  hope  to  conciliate,  much 
less  to  convince.  Time,  that  tries  all,  must  be  their 
teacher.  But  for  such  as  believe  that  "the  estab- 
lishment of  Christian  truth,"  rather  than  its  apolo- 
getic defence  or  contemptuous  dismissal,  is  an 
important  part  of  the  second  Reformation  imposed 
upon  us  by  the  contemporary  course  of  science  and 
scholarship,  I  trust  I  have  touched  some  things 
worth  further  reflexion. 

In  any  event,  I  have  no  apology  to  offer  for  my 
view  that  religion  is  of  primary  importance  to  man- 
kind. BeHef  bears  its  recompenses,  because  our 
fragmental  nature  makes  insistent  demand  for 
completion. 


PREFACE  XV 

I  extend  cordial  thanks  to  several  eminent  scholars 

who  have  taken  the  trouble  to  read  portions  of  my 

manuscript,   and   to  suggest  improvements.     They 

are  not  to  be  held  responsible  in  any  sense  for  my 

errors  or  my  opinions. 

R.  M.  Wenley. 


CONTENTS 

LECTURE    I 

Sheaves  on  the  Threshing-floor  . 

Introduction   ...... 

The  New  Attitude  of  Culture  to  Religion 
The  Nature  of  Intellectual  Constructions 
The  Instability  of  Intellectual  Constructions 


PAGE 

I 
I 

3 

1 1 

27 


LECTURE    II 

The  Waters  of  Meribah 41 

Supposition  and  Science  .....  46 

The  Scientific  Consciousness  in  its  Methods  and 

Conclusions 54 


LECTURE    III 

Breaches  of  the  House 81 

The  Historico-critical  Movement     ....       82 

1.  Ancient  History  .         .         .         .         .100 

2.  The  Old  Testament 114 


LECTURE   IV 

Humiliation  in  the  Midst 140 

The  Historico-critical  Movement  {continued^  .     140 

3.  The  New  Testament  .....     141 

4.  Christian  Syncretism  .         .         .         .         -175 


XVIU 


CONTENTS 


LECTURE  V 

The  Preestablished  Discord 

The  Roots  of  Conflict  in  Experience 

The  Abstractions  of  Science  and  their  Meaning; 
Consequent  Discords  ...... 

The  Discord  as  it  appears  within  Historical  Science 

Man  forced  to  seek  Refuge  in  the  Ethical  Conscious- 
ness     


PAGE 
190 

194 

200 
221 

230 


LECTURE   VI 

The  Adjournment  of  Well-being  ....  232 

Religion  and  the  Ethical  Consciousness           .         .  233 

Teleology  and  Discontinuity  .....  237 

The  Time-series  and  the  Ethical  Consciousness       .  245 

Failure  of  the  Ethical  Consciousness  to  satisfy  Man  251 

The  Passage  to  Religion 256 


LECTURE    VII 

The  Penumbra  of  Belief 

Knowledge  and  Life 
The  Mystic  Element  in  Religion 
The  Nature  of  Christian  Conviction 
What  think  ye  of  Christ? 


278 
278 
289 
297 
312 


LECTURE  VIII 

The  Valley  of  Blessing 324 

Religion  under  the  Conditions  of  Experience  .         .  324 

Christianity  as  a  Missionary  Religion        .         .  325 

Christianity  and  Secular  Polity         .         .         .  332 

Christianity  as  a  Process:  Absoluteness  and  Change  344 

Conclusion 358 


MODERN    THOUGHT   AND    THE 
CRISIS    IN    BELIEF 


MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE 
CRISIS  IN  BELIEF 

LECTURE   I 

SHEAVES   ON   THE   THRESHING-FLOOR 

The  invitation  of  the  Bishop  and  the  Hobart 
Guild,  calling  a  layman  to  deliver  these  Lectures 
for  the  first  time,  can  hardly  pass  without  comment. 
Inevitably,  I  must  cut  a  sorry  figure  by  comparison 
with  my  eminent  clerical  predecessors.  Yet,  para- 
doxically, the  very  fact  that  a  layman  lacks  pro- 
fessional bias  may  serve  as  a  makeweight.  In  all 
professions  the  initiate  tends  to  fall  under  the  sway 
of  certain  conventions.  Indeed,  were  this  not  so, 
professions  as  such  would  cease  to  exist.  Thus, 
in  dealing  with  professional  subjects,  the  accredited 
member  of  the  craft  inclines  to  accept  a  distinct 
standpoint  whereto  he  has  grown,  almost  uncon- 
sciously, through  long  years  of  training  and  asso- 
ciation. Nay,  the  more  he  has  earned  the  right  to 
appear  as  an  adequate  representative,  the  further, 


2      MODERN  THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

as  a  rule,  has  this  assimilation  proceeded.  I  am 
unaware  that  the  clergy  are  greater  sinners  in  such 
respect  than  their  brethren  of  the  bar  or  the  desk, 
the  sword  or  the  lancet,  even  if  their  public  func- 
tion, in  preaching,  render  them  a  readier  prey  to 
facile  criticism.  For  every  profession  develops  its 
'system,'  its  'form,'  its  'ethics,'  its  what-not. 

In  the  circumstances  inseparable  from  these  Lec- 
tures, the  tendency  of  the  clerical  'system'  might 
result,  conceivably,  in  partial  failure  to  distinguish 
between  theology  and  religion,  between  creed  and 
conduct,  between  the  church  and  Christianity,  or 
the  like.  So,  once  in  a  great  while,  it  may  prove 
refreshing,  if  perilous,  to  expose  the  lay  mind,  even 
with  all  its  sins  of  feeble  technique  upon  its  head. 
Again,  one  passes  no  impertinent  reflexion  in  say- 
ing that  the  clerical  attitude  towards  religion  is 
defensive,  in  large  measure.  Nay,  we  laity  force 
this  upon  our  ministers  by  our  determination  to 
hold  them  men  of  other  flesh,  of  other  mould,  than 
ourselves.  Accordingly,  let  us  bear  the  blame, 
great  or  small,  when  we  repeat  the  acute  remark, 
"It  is  the  mischief  of  the  defensive  method  that  the 
class  of  facts  against  which  a  man  has  made  himself 
impregnable  may  be  the  very  class  of  facts  which  it 
is  his  chief  business  to  know."     More  than  likely, 


SHEAVES    ON    THE    THRESHING-FLOOR  3 

your  layman  may  have  been  placed  midmost  these 
very  facts  in  his  daily  v^^ork.  If  not,  he  may  recall 
the  trite  doctrine,  that  a  spectator  sometimes  under- 
stands more  of  the  fight  than  those  who  are  in  the 
thick  of  it.  In  any  event,  he  can  add  at  least, 
especially  as  concerns  religion,  that  he  suffers  the 
same  frailty  with  all  his  fellows;  for  he  is  the  same 
sinner,  the  same  subject  of  ceaseless  craving  for  — 

"  The  light  that  never  was  on  sea  or  land," 
the  same  wistful  suppliant  for  — 

"  the  wings  of  faith,  to  rise 
Within  the  veil,  and  .  .  . 
Possess  the  promised  rest." 


It  would  be  superfluous  to  adduce  proofs  of  the 
statement  that,  in  a  single  generation,  the  position 
of  English-speaking  folk  towards  'Christian  truth' 
has  undergone  large  displacement.  So  much  is 
quite  sure.  Moreover,  one  must  remark,  not  merely 
that  this  change  continues,  but  rather  that  its  in- 
fluence affects  wider  and  wider  circles.  It  is  no 
part  of  my  aim  meanwhile  to  deploy  reasons  for 
the  modification.  But  one  fact,  slurred  too  often 
just  now,  merits  comment.  Obviously  enough, 
man's  estimate  even  of  the  deepest  things  of  life 


4      MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

alters  in  face  of  new  knowledge  of  nature,  espe- 
cially of  organisms,  brute  and  human.  Darwin 
was  the  — 

"  Calm  priest  of  a  tremendous  oracle." 

Yet,  after  all,  the  world,  with  its  objects,  vital  or 
non-vital,  maintains  a  certain  aloofness  from  those 
ethical,  aesthetic,  and  religious  insights  that  serve  at 
once  to  differentiate  man  and  to  set  his  distinctive 
problems.  No  amount  of  sophistication  suffices  to 
obliterate  the  contrast  between  things,  or  stable 
bodies,  in  the  objective  realm,  and  processes,  or 
inconstant  successions,  in  the  subjective  sphere. 
Despite  their  manifold,  indelible  relations,  they  re- 
main two  orders,  amenable,  perhaps,  to  similar 
methods  of  research,  but  always  so  amenable  in 
different  measure  and  with  very  contrasted  degrees 
of  success. 

We  shall  not  be  surprised  to  learn,  then,  that 
''transvaluation  of  values"  in  matters  religious  must 
stand  to  the  account  rather  of  historical  than  of 
biological  or  physical  investigation.  Language  and 
literature,  conduct  and  institutions,  custom  and 
myth,  society  and  law,  worship  and  dogma,  —  these, 
Vv'ith  their  kind,  together  constitute  man's  peculiar 
expression  of  his  own  nature.     Thus,  fresh  results 


SHEAVES    ON    THE   THRESHING-FLOOR  5 

in  anthropology,  ethics,  comparative  rehgion,  criti- 
cism, jurisprudence,  ethnic  psychology,  and  the 
history  of  civilization  affect  our  estimates  of  the 
significance,  sweep,  and  implications  of  our  common 
humanity  as  no  hypotheses  concerning  bodies,  or 
even  the  body,  ever  can.     Being  human,  — 

"Some  thought  imprisons  us;  we  set  about 
To  bring  the  world  within  the  woven  spell." 

Now,  Germany  was  the  mother-land  of  these  fateful 
'human'  sciences.  There  they  had  origin,  grew, 
took  definite  shape,  and  found  acceptance  for  nigh 
a  century  ere  they  penetrated  the  English  world. 
Echoes  were  wafted  overseas,  indeed.  But  Coleridge 
and  Carlyle,  Emerson  and  Browning  prophesied  in 
the  upper  air  to  a  stiff-necked  generation.  Their 
early  audience  would  have  little  or  none  of  them. 
"'Pauhne,'  a  piece  of  pure  bewilderment,"  said  the 
London  AthencEum,  so  late  as  1833;  and  this  was 
sixty-six  years  after  Herder,  "the  gatekeeper  of  the 
nineteenth  century,"  had  published  his  epoch-mak- 
ing "Fragmente."  Nay,  a  quarter  century  later, 
the  greatest  English  scholar  of  the  age,  a  man  of 
monumental  learning,  seems  to  stay  stranded  out- 
side the  main  current  of  European  thought.  For 
Whewell,  in  the  third  edition  of  his  "History  of  the 


6      MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE  CRISIS  IN  BELIEF 

Inductive  Sciences"  (1858),  the  enormous  change 
wrought  by  Kant  seventy-seven  years  before  might 
as  well  not  have  taken  place.  Its  real  meaning  is 
a  mere  vagrom  rumour.  Small  wonder,  then,  that 
misrepresentation  or,  as  oftener,  sheer  ignorance 
tangled  the  fundamental  tendencies.  Accordingly, 
Germany  arrived  at  a  gradual  appreciation  of  the 
transitive  principles  peculiar  to  nineteenth-century 
thought  by  a  slow,  cumulative  process,  beginning 
with  Winckelmann  and  Lessing  about  1760;  pass- 
ing through  the  several  stages  of  Kant,  Herder, 
Goethe,  Fichte,  Schelling,  and  the  Romantics; 
coming  finally  to  clear  consciousness  in  Hegel,  and 
that  historico-critical  upheaval  for  which  he,  more 
than  any  other  single  force,  must  be  given  credit. 
On  the  contrary.  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States 
enjoyed  no  such  period  of  formative  transition.  For, 
all  things  considered,  the  movement  burst  upon 
them  in  full  panoply  of  power  during  the  decade 
1865-1875.  Further,  as  if  to  accentuate  the  stress, 
it  synchronized  with  the  home-thrusting  dispute 
over  the  Darwinian  theory,  and  this  at  a  moment 
when  the  essential  identity  of  the  two  schemes,  in 
ultimate  attitude  towards  the  universe,  was  not 
apparent.  As  always,  controversy  clouded  the  main 
issues  at  the  outset.     On  the  other  hand,  since  about 


SHEAVES    ON   THE    THRESHING-FLOOR  7 

1890  shouts  of  battle  have  diminished,  party  cries 
and  nicknames  have  found  their  due  level,  a  process 
of  assimilation  has  wrought  results  in  some  measure. 
We  shall  realize  this  more  in  detail  later.  Mean- 
while, suffice  it  to  say  that  we  can  now  recognize  the 
reason  why  our  intellectual  atmosphere  has  not  been 
interpenetrated  by  these  constructive  ideas  even  yet. 
Astonishing  darkness  prevails  in  certain  quarters, 
where  illumination  might  be  expected,  while  miscon- 
ceptions so  strange  that  one  is  forced  to  conclude 
them  undesigned  to  mislead,  still  provide  pitiful 
commentary.  Nevertheless,  we  are  bound  to  re- 
member, in  all  charity,  that  when  the  waters  of 
evolution  rose  and  the  floods  of  criticism  descended 
at  one  fell  swoop,  dire  shipwreck  of  their  most  holy 
things  seemed  imminent  to  many.  But,  in  any  case, 
perspective  has  altered.  For  example,  it  were  im- 
possible to-day  that  the  hue  and  cry  after  the  "Ves- 
tiges of  the  Natural  History  of  Creation"  (1844) 
should  recur  over  a  similar  book.  As  Lamarck 
said,  browbeaten  by  his  generation,  "It  is  better 
that  a  truth  once  perceived  should  struggle  a  long 
time  to  obtain  attention  than  that  everything  the 
ardent  imagination  of  man  produces  should  be  easily 
accepted."  ^ 

^ Philosophie  Zoologique,  p.  15. 


8      MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

At  this  point  let  us  pause  to  remind  ourselves 
sharply  of  some  phrases  used  above.  'New  know- 
ledge of  nature,'  'fresh  results  in  criticism,'  'hu- 
man sciences,'  'dispute  over  the  Darwinian  theory,' 
and  so  forth.  What  do  they  imply?  Or,  shifting 
the  angle  slightly.  Does  the  average  man  possess 
much  lore  concerning  these  things?  The  answer 
is,  They  imply  that  religion  involves  an  important 
intellectual  element,  and  that  the  average  man,  just 
on  account  of  his  ignorance,  may  find  himself  at  the 
mercy  of  this  element,  to  his  comfort,  or,  as  so  often, 
to  his  deep  distress.  By  way  of  introduction,  I  pro- 
pose to  consider  the  grave  problems  lurking  here. 

An  obvious  course  would  be  to  set  out  from  that 
copy-book  platitude,  the  distinction  between  religion 
and  theology.  According  to  this  view,  the  two  are 
related  as  antecedent  and  consequent.  The  prius 
of  theology  is  religion;  for  theology  represents  the 
reaction  of  reason  upon  inexpressible  aspirations 
that  flow  from  the  '  heart.'  Or,  once  more,  theology 
broods  among  the  shadows  of  abstraction,  while 
religion  wells  up  naturally  in  the  free  manifestation 
of  faith.  Now,  admitting  that  such  contrasts  may 
serve  a  purpose  sometimes,  it  nevertheless  remains 
true  that  they  are  too  naive.  No  one  needs  to 
emphasize  the  evident  differences  between  theory 


SHEAVES    ON    THE    THRESHING-FLOOR  9 

and  practice,  logic  and  life,  the  state  and  the  citizen, 
pure  and  applied  science;  they  float  on  the  surface, 
naked  and  unashamed.  Meaning  attaches  to  them 
as  aspects  of  a  single  whole,  never  as  mutually  ex- 
clusive facts.  They  appear  as  incidents  of  a  dia- 
lectic movement,  the  one  implies  the  other,  and  the 
problem  roots  in  the  nature  of  the  connexion,  never 
in  the  bare  contrast.  Whatever  might  be  said  of 
origins,  we  are  unable  to  seek  light  in  the  darkness 
of  the  past;  religion  and  theology  so  intertwine 
now  that  jejune  and  odious  comparisons  preclude 
any  conclusion.  To  escape  the  consequent  impasse 
another  method  must  prevail.  Our  sole  resource 
lies  in  an  appeal  to  concrete  experience.  Religion 
cannot  exist  apart  from  some  view  of  its  necessary 
conditions,  and  these  belong  to  human  nature. 

"Ein  Traum,  ein  Traum  ist  unser  Leben 

Auf  Erden  hier; 
Wie  schatten  auf  den  Wogen  schweben 

Und  schwinden  wir; 
Und  messen  uns're  tragen  Tritte 

Nach  Raum  und  Zeit, 
Und  sind,  und  wissen's  nicht,  in  Mitte 

Der  Ewigkeit !" 

Taken  at  its  best,  knowledge  about  man  leaves 
much  unknown  and,  very  likely,  unsuspected.  We 
cannot  tell  how  we  came  by  our  perception  of  space, 


lO      MODERN   THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS    IN    BELIEF 

with  its  wonderful  localization  of  objects,  surely  a 
familiar  affair.  We  know  little  about  the  brain,  less 
about  its  intimate  functioning  as  the  organ  of  con- 
sciousness, nothing  of  the  ultimate  relation  between 
the  two;  while  our  acquaintance  with  consciousness 
itself  is  lapped  everywhere  by  the  mighty  ocean  of 
ignorance.  In  the  nature  of  the  case,  our  inferences 
from  the  ascertained  phenomena  present  themselves 
synoptically.  That  is  to  say,  we  must  rest  satisfied 
with  results  in  gross,  numerous  factors  being  beyond 
reach  meantime.  Yet,  even  so,  some  points  almost 
shout  their  presence.  The  reflective  mind,  at  least, 
seizes  them  immediately.  For  example,  beyond 
peradventure  man's  distinctive  fate  centres  in  his 
double  life,  —  on  the  one  hand,  an  animal  moved 
to  hunger  and  lust  and  cruelty,  on  the  other,  a  sub- 
ject of  aspirations  whereby  he  serves  himself  a  little 
lower  than  the  angels.  The  eternal  conflict  between 
these  two  sets  all  his  problems,  originates  all  his 
fears  and  sufferings,  but  at  the  same  time  baptizes 
him  into  all  opportunity.  At  his  sweet  pleasure  he 
can  "idealize  himself  into  dirt"  with  — 

"a  scrofulous  French  novel 
On  grey  paper  with  blunt  type," 

or  into  devilry,  — 

"Squat  like  a  toad,  close  to  the  ear  of  Eve;" 


SHEAVES    ON    THE    THRESHING-ILOOR  II 

anon,  led  by  — 

"The  Star  of  the  unconquerable  will," 

he  may  vault  time  and  space,  — 

"Pouring  heaven  into  this  shut  house  of  life." 

Of  a  truth,  then,  we  men  grasp  keys  to  most  varied 
universes.  These  universes,  in  turn,  together  hold 
the  secret  of  the  problem  now  under  examination. 
Accordingly,  the  question  comes  to  be,  (i)  What 
import  are  we  to  attach  to  the  term  '  universe ' ; 
and  (2)  What  'universes'  emerge  if  appeal  be  taken 
to  experience? 

(i)  In  the  present  connexion,  formidable  although 
it  may  seem,  the  word  'universe'  need  invoke  no 
serious  terrors.  On  the  contrary,  indeed,  it  is  a  sim- 
ple commonplace.  For  instance,  we  declare,  with 
perfect  truth,  that  the  American  and  the  Englishman 
live  in  different  '  universes.'  Historical  traditions, 
political  organization,  and  social  relationships  dif- 
ferentiate their  respective  estimates  of  life.  To  the 
one  a  title  imports  less  than  nothing,  to  the  other  it 
carries  a  clear  conventional  value;  to  the  one  owner- 
ship of  land  implies  little,  on  the  other  it  bestows  a 
distinct  social  status;  the  one  conceives  that  money 
can  effect  almost  anything,  the  other  is  well  aware 
that    some    things,    attractive    to    him,    cannot    be 


12      MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS    IN    BELIEF 

purchased.  Again,  take  men  in  the  same  society. 
Contrast  the  successful  merchant  with  the  productive 
scholar.  To  the  former  the  career  of  the  latter 
spells  failure  —  it  does  not  pay ;  to  the  latter  the 
career  of  the  former  misses  full  flavour  —  it  does 
not  pay  in  the  right  way,  for  it  sacrifices  the  man  to 
the  bare  pursuit.  In  a  word,  one  of  the  most  familiar 
facts  of  life  finds  illustration  in  the  universal  ten- 
dency to  rate  the  same  things  differently,  and  by 
consequence  to  judge  human  affairs  from  divergent 
standpoints.  The  influences  which,  in  sum,  pro- 
duce and  maintain  such  phenomena  we  call  a  'uni- 
verse,' because  it  is  the  kind  of  totality  forming  the 
customary  world  wherein  a  man  seeks  his  spiritual 
adventures.  There  he  finds  at  once  his  aims  and 
his  motives.  Anyone  who  cares  to  study,  say,  the 
proverbs  of  various  peoples  will  grasp  this  immedi- 
ately; opposed  types  of  'universe'  are  embodied  in 
the  wise  saws  of  the  folk. 

Dropping  these  manifest  comparisons,  the  real 
problem  appears.  If,  on  analysis,  it  result  that 
mankind  tends  naturally,  on  the  whole  and  without 
distinction  of  time  or  place,  to  reveal  the  occupancy 
of  certain  'universes,'  then  our  enquiry  will  have 
reached  some  conclusion. 

(2)  Luckily,  Nature  lends  such  efficient  aid  here 


SHEAVES    ON   THE    THRESHING-FLOOR  1 3 

that  no  recondite  process  need  ensue.  For,  whatever 
his  Hmilations,  every  human  being  admits  that  his 
life  presents  two  insistent  aspects,  neither  of  them 
to  be  escaped  or  palliated  in  serious  measure.  For 
better  or  worse,  all  occupy  a  physical  and  a  psy- 
chical '  universe.'  The  contrast  between  things  and 
thoughts  forms  the  most  evident,  yet  profoundest, 
occurrence  in  life.  No  one  has  the  slightest  diffi- 
culty in  recognizing  it,  all  assume  it  in  the  simplest 
functions  and  arrangements  of  the  daily  round. 
But  the  terms  'physical'  and  'psychical'  represent 
vast  complexes  which,  to  a  certain  extent,  we  not 
only  can  and  do,  but  even  must  analyze.  When  I 
kick  a  stone  or  a  man,  I  do  not  anticipate  precisely 
identical  reactions.  We  are  prone  to  kick  any  stone, 
we  have  been  known  to  select  our  man.  Again, 
when  I  talk  to  a  friend,  or  ponder  some  mighty 
achievement  in  history,  I  am  perfectly  aware  of 
the  great  difference  between  the  two  events.  Here, 
once  more,  Nature  aids  us  by  the  very  obviousness 
of  her  ways.  Just  as  experience  splits  itself,  with- 
out any  effort  on  our  part,  into  the  'physical'  and 
the  'psychical,'  so  these  subdivisions  fissure  in  turn, 
and  after  equally  spontaneous  fashion.  The  'phys- 
ical' presents  two  unmistakable  aspects,  —  things 
and  living  things,  especially  our  own  bodies.     In 


14      MODERN  THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

like  manner,  the  'psychical'  hives  off  into  self  and 
other  selves,  the  former  dwelling  almost  breathlessly 
upon  its  possible  future  here  and  hereafter,  the  latter 
entrancing  by  their  multitudinous  past  and  puzzling 
present. 

These  four  'universes'  envelop  man  at  every 
moment.  Negatively,  he  cannot  flee  from  any  one 
of  them;  positively,  he  may  enter  any  one  at  will, 
and  may  mould  his  career  in  it  more  fully  than  in 
the  rest.  They  are,  then:  (a)  things,  from  the 
farthest  star  to  the  newest  manufactured  article; 
{b)  living  things,  from  the  simplest  unicellular 
organism  to  that  organic  community,  amazing  in  its 
involution,  known  as  the  human  body;  (c)  other 
selves,  from  naked  savages,  the  prey  of  natural 
forces,  to  strangely  intertwined  contemporary  socie- 
ties who  harness  wind  and  steam  and  electricity 
and  ether  so  that  they  obey  them;  from  wretched 
barbarians,  whose  idols  are  placated  by  unspeak- 
able tortures,  to  Christian  saints  anxious  to  pour 
out  their  all  if  haply  the  reign  of  Jesus  may  advantage 
by  never  so  little;  (d)  self,  from  the  vague  time  it 
could  say  '  I '  to  those  memorable  moments  when  it 
thrills,  or  falters,  or  weeps  over  the  — 

"obstinate  questionings 
Of  sense  and  outward  things  .  .  . 


SHEAVES    ON    THE    THRESHING-FLOOR  1 5 

Blank  misgivings  of  a  Creature 

Moving  about  in  vi'orlds  not  realized, 

High  instincts  before  which  our  mortal  Nature 

Did  tremble  like  a  thing  surprised." 

Our  psychological  organization  is  so  contrived  that 
it  rives  the  universal  into  these  fractions,  and  con- 
tinues thereafter  under  the  main  rule  of  one  or 
another;  consequently,  the  indivisible  reality  secludes 
itself  afar.  Here  we  meet  the  recurrent  mystery  of 
the  One  and  the  Many,  an  enigma  since  the  oldest 
days  of  Hindustan  and  Greece.  Yearning  after 
the  One,  men  are  fated  to  work  out  their  salvation 
in  such  a  scramble  of  competitive  aims  that  the  task 
of  unification  seems  hopeless  or  impracticable. 

"By  the  watercourses  of  Reuben 
There  were  great  resolves  of  heart." 

Plainly  enough,  this  entire  analysis  proceeds  from 
an  intellectual  reaction  upon  ordinary  experience. 
Principles  of  division  are  involved,  and  therefore 
the  operation  of  more  or  less  extensive  knowledge, 
based  on  observation,  attention,  and  reflexion. 
Even  the  fragmentary  views  of  current  small-talk 
presuppose  no  less.  Now,  as  Darwin  said,  "no  one 
can  be  a  good  observer,  unless  he  is  an  active  theo- 
rizer."  *     In  other  words,  facts  and  circumstances 

'■  Life  and  Letters,  vol.  i,  p.  126. 


l6      MODERN    THOUGHT  AND    THE  CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

fail  to  reveal  their  true  significance  —  or  any  sig- 
nificance, for  that  matter  —  till  arrangement  over- 
takes them.  They  demand  a  setting.  A  main  vice 
of  popular  thought  issues  from  the  tendency  to 
suppose  that  interpretations  illuminating  on  one 
level  of  experience  suffice  equally  for  any.  Nay,  one 
may  go  so  far  as  to  declare  that  many  difficulties 
vexatious  to  Christians  now,  whether  pro  or  con 
some  fundamental  questions  so  called,  originate  in 
just  this  loose  procedure.  When  subjected  to  criti- 
cism, they  disappear  or  assume  an  altered  aspect. 
Consequences  of  mental  refraction,  their  relation 
to  religion  turns  out  more  or  less  dubious. 

"We  live  in  deeds,  not  years;  in  thoughts,  not  breaths; 
In  feelings,  not  in  figures  on  a  dial. 
We  should  count  time  by  heart-throbs.     He  most  lives 
Wbo  thinks  most,  feels  the  noblest,  acts  the  best." 

At  the  risk  of  intruding  dull  or  difficult  matters,  let 
me  try  to  illustrate  the  situation.  The  plan  may 
serve  to  clear  our  minds  of  cant. 

Although  the  universe  as  a  whole  forms  a  single 
unity,  differentiation  fills  out  our  fleeting  moments. 
Man,  for  example,  can  be  viewed  as  a  machine  or  as 
a  'living  soul,'  or  as  any  one  of  a  dozen  things  inter- 
mediate between  these  extremes.  But  it  is  plain 
that  the  mechanical  factor  functions  in  a  subordinate 


SHEAVES    ON   THE    THRESHING-FLOOR  1 7 

fashion  when  we  emphasize  the  'living  soul'  aspect. 
While  present  necessarily,  it  does  not  determine 
exclusively  the  treatment  of  the  problem.  And  this 
familiar  subordination  of  some  differences  appears 
characteristically  when  the  constructions  of  know- 
ledge come  in  question.  The  thinker  or  observer 
never  sidles  up  to  objects  in  a  merely  receptive 
frame  of  mind.  The  ideas  he  employs,  even  in 
abstract  processes,  contain  principles  of  direction; 
the  analysis,  that  is,  proceeds  with  reference  to  an 
end,  and  struggle  as  he  may,  contributes  to  the 
end,  moulds  it  accordingly.  The  method  of  ap- 
proach cannot  but  be  normative.  A  pure  external 
relation  of  subject  to  object  is  pure  nonsense.  Even 
in  theory  we  cannot  view  the  two  as  if  they  stood 
side  by  side  like  bits  of  china  on  a  shelf,  because  they 
never  so  present  themselves  in  fact.  A  transitive 
process  operates  invariably  from  the  side  of  mind. 
The  simplest  way  to  realize  this  is  to  take  examples. 
One  instance  from  each  of  the  four  'universes'  noted 
above  may  suffice.  To  avoid  the  easy  objection, 
that  I  am  preparing  the  ground,  I  have  chosen  quite 
at  random,  and  have  allowed  others  to  speak  pur- 
posely. 

(a)  The  'universe^  of  things.     "When  a  railway 
carriage  is  running  on  a  straight  piece  of  road,  we 


l8       MODERN  THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

become  unconscious  of  the  motion  unless  we  look 
at  external  bodies;  but  we  detect  at  once  any 
sudden  change  of  speed.  If  the  motion  of  the 
train  be  checked  by  a  sudden  application  of  the 
brake,  their  inertia  (which  really  maintains  their 
motion)  appears  to  urge  the  passengers  forwards. 
A  sudden  starting  of  the  train  produces  the  opposite 
effect.  While  the  steady  motion  continues,  a  con- 
jurer can  keep  a  number  of  balls  in  the  air  just  as 
easily  as  if  the  carriage  were  at  rest.  But  these 
things  need  not  surprise  us.  Our  rooms  are  always 
like  perfect  railway  carriages  in  respect  of  their 
absolutely  smooth,  but  very  rapid,  motion  round 
the  earth's  axis.  The  whole  earth  itself  is  flying 
in  its  orbit  at  the  rate  of  a  million  and  a  half  miles 
per  day;  yet  we  should  have  known  nothing  of  this 
motion  had  our  globe  been  perpetually  clouded 
over  like  Jupiter.  The  whole  solar  system  is  travel- 
ling with  great  speed  among  the  fixed  stars,  but  we 
know  of  the  fact  only  from  the  minutely  accurate 
observations  of  astronomers,  aided  by  all  the  re- 
sources of  the  Theory  of  Probabilities.''^  ^ 

Here  we  have  what  logicians  call  crucial  instances. 
But,  evidently,  the  crux,  or  sign-post,  is  dictated,  as 
it  were,  by  the  intellectual  attitude  of  the  observer. 

*  Properties  of  Matter,  P.  G.  Tait,  pp.  95-96  (2d  ed.). 


SHEAVES    ON    THE    THRESHING-FLOOR  1 9 

Tait  proceeded  on  the  doctrine  of  inertia  laid  down 
in  Newton's  first  Law  of  Motion.  This,  once  more, 
lies  embedded  in  Newton's  third  Definition  of  Force. 
"The  vis  inerticE  of  matter  is  a  power  of  resisting,  by 
which  every  body,  so  far  as  in  it  Hes,  perseveres  in 
its  state  of  rest  or  of  uniform  motion  in  a  straight 
line."  Now,  all  these  propositions  are  controlled 
by  mental  refraction.  They  represent  abstractions 
from  experience,  possible  only  to  a  being  endowed 
as  man  is.  Within  the  sphere  of  things  they  apply 
perfectly,  nay,  can  be  made  the  basis  of  further 
interpretation.  Professor  Mach,  for  instance,  would 
combine  Newton's  Definition  and  Law  in  a  fresh 
and,  as  he  conceives,  more  concrete  statement. 
"Bodies  set  opposite  each  other  induce  in  each 
other,  under  certain  circumstances  to  be  specified 
by  experimental  physics,  contrary  accelerations  in 
the  direction  of  their  line  of  junction."  ^  Excellent, 
I  suppose,  in  the  realm  of  experimental  physics,  but 
what  meaning  has  it  when  carried  over  into  the 
fields  of  morals  or  religion  ?  The  clew  serves  within 
the  definite  range  of  experience  whence  it  came. 
In  the  psychological  maze  it  leads  nowhere. 

(h)    The  'universe^   of  living    things.     Here  we 
may  avail  ourselves  of  a  case  stated  by  Mr.  Alfred 

*  The  Science  of  Mechanics,  p.  243  (Eng.  trans.,  2d  ed.). 


20       MODERN  THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

Russel  Wallace.  It  offers  an  admirable  illustration 
of  the  inevitable  tendency  of  theory  to  suggest  reliable 
meaning,  to  hint  the  end  in  the  means. 

"Among  the  numerous  applications  of  the  Dar- 
winian theory  in  the  interpretation  of  the  complex 
phenomena  presented  by  the  organic  world,  none 
have  been  more  successful,  or  are  more  interesting, 
than  those  which  deal  with  the  colours  of  animals 
and  plants.  To  the  older  school  of  naturalists 
colour  was  a  trivial  character,  eminently  unstable 
and  untrustworthy  in  the  determination  of  species; 
and  it  appears  to  have,  in  most  cases,  no  use  or 
meaning  to  the  objects  which  displayed  it.  .  .  . 
But  the  researches  of  Mr.  Darwin  totally  changed 
our  point  of  view  in  this  matter.  He  showed  clearly 
that  some  of  the  colours  of  animals  are  useful,  some 
hurtful  to  them.  .  .  .  That  the  colours  and  mark- 
ings of  animals  have  been  acquired  under  the  funda- 
mental law  of  utility,  is  indicated  by  a  general  fact 
which  has  received  very  little  attention.  As  a  rule, 
colour  and  marking  are  constant  in  each  species  of 
wild  animal,  while,  in  almost  every  domesticated 
animal,  there  arises  great  variability.  We  see  this 
in  our  horses  and  cattle,  our  dogs  and  cats,  our 
pigeons  and  poultry.  Now,  the  essential  difference 
between  the  conditions  of  life  of  domesticated  and 


SHEAVES    ON    THE    THRESHING-FLOOR  21 

wild  animals  is,  that  the  former  are  protected  by 
man,  while  the  latter  have  to  protect  themselves. 
The  extreme  variations  in  colour  that  immediately 
arise  under  domestication  indicate  a  tendency  to 
vary  in  this  way,  and  the  occasional  occurrence  of 
white  or  piebald,  or  other  exceptionally  coloured 
individuals  of  many  species  in  a  state  of  nature 
shows  that  this  tendency  exists  there  also;  and,  as 
these  exceptionally  coloured  individuals  rarely  or 
never  increase,  there  must  be  some  constant  power 
at  work  to  keep  it  in  check."  ^ 

Just  so.  The  active  element  here  is  the  intel- 
lectual, for  the  simple  reason  that  its  predominance 
alone  guarantees  an  explanatory  synthesis.  But  the 
categories  employed  possess  no  more  than  analogical 
value  in  ethics,  say,  while  in  numerous  aspects  of 
experience  they  avail  not  at  all.  Suppose  one  were 
to  employ  them  to  explain  the  ecclesiastical  colours 
proper  to  the  seasons  of  the  Christian  year! 

(c)  The  'universe'  of  other  selves.  A  common 
custom,  more  honoured  in  the  breach  than  in  the 
observance,  according  to  Hamlet,  may  serve  our 
purpose  here. 

"That  one  man  should  drink  with  another  was 
regarded  by  our  forefathers  as  a  more  sacred  symbol 

^Darwinism,  pp.  187,  188-190  (London,  1889). 


2  2       MODERN   THOUGHT    AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

of  brotherhood  even  than  the  sitting  at  meat  to- 
gether. This  belief  was  derived,  in  part,  from  the 
impression  made  by  the  stimulating  effect  of  the 
wine,  mead,  etc.,  whose  intoxicating  properties  have 
led  to  their  choice  by  all  peoples  at  all  times  for 
ceremonial  purposes.  In  part,  however,  the  idea 
of  the  inspiriting  draught  is  associated  with  that  of 
the  blood,  universally  considered  by  primitive  man 
to  be  the  seat  of  the  vital  forces.  He  who  drinks  the 
blood  of  an  enemy  takes  to  himself  the  dead  man's 
strength;  he  who  exchanges  a  drop  of  blood  with  a 
friend  becomes  thereby  his  blood-relation,  as  if  a 
son  of  the  same  mother.  .  .  .  But  as  the  a^re  G;rew 
milder,  the  symbolism  of  a  draught  from  the  same 
cup  took  the  place  of  the  original  ceremony.  .  .  . 
Soon  the  draught  of  brotherhood  extended  its  range 
beyond  the  individual;  it  became  an  emblem  of 
the  union  of  host  and  invited  guests,  the  cup  travel- 
ling from  hand  to  hand  at  the  common  meal.  So 
the  symbol  reduces,  first  of  all,  to  a  simple  sign  of 
friendship,  and  finally  comes  to  be  a  mere  expression 
of  social  attention.  When  the  cup  ceased  to  pass 
from  mouth  to  mouth,  and  the  greater  luxury  of 
the  time  gave  each  guest  his  own  drinking  glass,  the 
common  draught  from  the  same  bowl  was  indicated 
by   the   touching   of  glasses,    and   the   draught   of 


SHEAVES    ON   THE    THRESHING-FLOOR  23 

brotherhood  between  two  comrades  had  degenerated 
into  the  modern  toast."  ^ 

But,  plainly,  apart  from  a  point  of  view,  sugges- 
tions of  this  sort  would  be  impossible.  In  the  time 
of  Newton  they  never  occurred  to  a  thinker  even  of 
his  genius,  as  his  commonplaces  on  prophecy,  that 
elicited  Voltaire's  sneer,  serve  to  show.^  What  point 
of  view,  then?     Let  Wundt  reply  himself. 

"Every  phase  of  our  modern  life  is  permeated 
with  usages  that  have  survived  from  long-forgotten 
cults.  .  .  .  Among  them,  too,  are  many  fossilized 
forms,  the  petrified  remains  of  once  living  actions, 
which  owe  their  preservation  simply  and  solely 
to  that  vis  inertia  which  is  as  characteristic  of  our 
ideas  as  it  is  of  our  material  bodies.  Now  if  we 
consider  the  bare  results  of  these  transformations, 
without  reference  to  their  historical  past,  we  may 
easily  be  misled  into  looking  for  their  explanation 
within  the  circle  of  our  present  experience,  and  sub- 
stituting the  aims  which  they  do  or  might  subserve 
to-day  for  the  true  causes  of  their  origination.     But 

^  Ethics,  W.  Wundt,  vol.  i,  pp.  143-144  (Eng.  trans.). 

^  See  his  Observations  upon  the  Prophecies  of  Holy  Writ,  par- 
ticularly the  Prophecies  of  Daniel  and  the  Apocalypse  of  St.  John 
(in  vol.  V  of  Isaaci  Newtoni  Opera  quce  exstant omnia  (1779-1785); 
separately  printed  in  1733  and,  with  notes  by  P.  Borthwick,  in 
1S31.     The  edition  of  1733  may  be  procured  still). 


24      MODERN   THOUGHT    AND   THE  CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

in  doing  this  we  should  be  forgetting  a  law  that  is 
of  the  very  highest  importance  in  all  mental,  but 
especially  in  moral,  development :  the  law  that  man- 
kind is  prepared  for  the  adoption  of  new  ends  of 
life  by  modes  of  conduct  already  existent,  but  pri- 
marily adapted  to  other  ends.  .  .  .  The  tendency 
of  custom  to  live  on  in  new  forms  after  the  decay 
of  its  original  contents  paves  the  way  for  the  origina- 
tion of  the  most  varied  purposes.  And  if,  in  the 
last  resort,  it  is  a  moral  development  that  secures 
the  greatest  advantages  from  this  law  of  persistence 
in  the  midst  of  change,  credit  is  not  therefore  to  be 
given  to  the  law,  but  only  to  the  forces  of  which 
that  moral  development  is  the  expression."  ^ 

Here,  once  more,  the  theory  lays  down  the  lines 
of  evaluation.  And  because  it  deals  with  the 
'universe'  of  human  psychology,  its  possible  appli- 
cation in  the  sphere  of  religion  becomes  apparent 
on  the  face  of  it. 

(d)  The  'universe^  of  self.  No  man  ever  left  a 
starker  self-revelation  than  Marcus  Aurelius.  Let 
us  listen  to  one  of  his  naked  confidences,  meant  for 
his  own  eye  alone. 

"You  consist  of  three  parts  —  body,  breath,  and 
mind.     The  first  two  are  yours,   to  the  extent  of 

•  Ethics,  W.  Wundt,  vol.  i,  pp.  139-140. 


SHEAVES    ON    THE   THRESHING-FLOOR  25 

requiring  your  care :  the  third  only  is  properly  your 
own.  Now  if  you  separate  from  your  true  self  — 
your  understanding  —  all  that  others  do  or  say,  all 
that  you  have  yourself  done  or  said,  all  that  perturbs 
you  for  the  future,  all  that  belongs  to  your  material 
shell  or  vital  breath  and  lies  outside  your  own  control, 
all  finally  that  sweeps  past  you  in  the  swirl  of  cir- 
cumstance, if  thus  exempting  and  clearing  your 
mind-faculty  from  the  play  of  destiny,  you  enable 
it  to  live  free  and  unrestricted,  doing  what  is  just, 
willing  what  befalls,  and  saying  what  is  true,  —  if, 
I  say,  you  thus  separate  from  your  Inner  Self  the 
outer  ties  and  attachments,  the  influences  of  time 
past  and  time  to  come,  and  so  make  yourself,  in  the 
language  of  Empedocles  — 

"  A  rounded  sphere,  poised  in  rotating  rest ;" 
and  train  yourself  to  live  in  what  alone  is  life  —  the 
present  —  then  you  will  be  able,  for  life's  remainder 
and  till  death,  to  live  on  constant  to  the  deity  within, 
unperturbed,  ingenuous,  serene."  ^ 

A  modem  would  not  put  it  thus,  because  his  out- 
look involves  a  widely  contrasted  mental  attitude, 
based  upon  many  new  presuppositions.  The  em- 
peror's cross-examination  of  self  was  conducted  in 
the  light  of  later  Stoic  theory,  and  within  the  ethico- 

^  Book  xii,  3  (the  translation  is  Rendall's). 


26      MODERN  THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

temperamental  perspective  peculiar  to  a  Roman  of 
the  highest  official  class  in  that  age.  The  value  and 
importance  of  the  facts  could  not  but  be  rated  by 
reference  to  this  transitive  rational  standpoint.  The 
tenour  of  the  passage  transcribed  renders  it  unneces- 
sary to  explain  why,  with  Marcus  Aurelius,  Stoicism 
had  ceased  to  be  a  philosophy  and  had  transformed 
itself  into  something  hardly  distinguishable  from 
religious  aspiration. 

Again,  the  subtle  and  pervasive  influence  of  man's 
inherited  and  acquired  mental  prepossessions  con- 
tinues ascendant  among  the  most  fearless  and 
capable  contemporary  thinkers.  Moreover,  the  fact 
that  the  vast  majority  remain  quite  unaware  of  its 
enormous  directive  power,  indeed,  often  deny  it 
angrily,  serves  but  to  confirm  its  sway.  Nobody 
would  suspect  Huxley,  for  instance,  of  treachery  to 
science,  rather  his  devotion  displayed  itself  in  a 
temper  almost  fierce.  Nevertheless,  did  he  not  say 
of  mathematics,  —  the  servant  of  all  experimental 
science  as  of  many  biological  and  sociological  in- 
vestigations,—  it  "is  that  study  that  knows  nothing 
of  observation,  nothing  of  induction,  nothing  of 
experiment,  nothing  of  causation?"  Perfectly  true, 
no  doubt;  and  yet,  thanks  to  Huxley's  very  intel- 
lectual passion,  how  far  his  irony — 


SHEAVES    ON    THE    THRESHING-FLOOR  27 

"fails  from  truth  by  every  stale-meant  word 
Half-wantonly  meeting  the  times'  demand." 

I  should  not  have  troubled  you  with  these  far- 
flung  illustrations  unless  I  had  intended  them  to 
hint  a  definite  inference.  It  is  this.  The  intel- 
lectual factor  in  our  experience  even  of  the  com- 
monest things  exhibits  instability.     Nature — 

"speaks 
A  various  language" 

as  she  passes  from  star-swirl  to  mountain-peak,  from 
mite  to  man. 

"Black  spirits  and  w^hite, 
Red  spirits  and  grey," 

is  poetry  or  gibberish,  as  you  please,  never  empirical 
fact.     But  so  is  — 

"Only  the  actions  of  the  just 
Smell  sweet  and  blossom  in  the  dust." 

Thus,  when  we  want  to  be  perfectly  clear  intellectu- 
ally, we  discover  at  once  that  judgements  luminous 
in  some  spheres  produce  darkness  visible  in  others. 
Accordingly,  we  switch  our  mental  currents,  alter- 
nating from  the  useless  or  even  baleful  to  the  appo- 
site, as  the  context  demands.  Now,  what  is  thus 
true  of  individual  experience  in  its  several  contem- 
poraneous fields,   holds  also  of  genetic  experience 


28      MODERN  THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN    BELIEF 

when  regarded  in  the  Hght  of  its  history.  For  us 
to-day,  the  legend  of  the  nymph  Echo,  who  pined 
away  for  love  of  Narcissus,  till  she  faded  to  a  mere 
voice,  excites  incredulity  or,  mayhap,  arouses  laugh- 
ter,—  we  feel  inclined  irresistibly  to  recall  the 
famous  smile  of  the  Cheshire  Cat !  Our  woods  are 
haunted  no  longer  by  Dryads  and  Hamadryads;  to 
ask  us  to  order  our  lives  as  if  this  delectable  com- 
panionship still  obtained,  were  absurd.  Similarly, 
the  psychological  perspective  necessary  for  St. 
Francis's  preaching  to  the  birds,  or  for  Luther's 
ink-pot  lunge  at  the  devil,  has  disappeared.  In  a 
word,  we  regard  such  fables  from  another  angle. 
So,  just  as  we  cannot  put  a  price  on  tears,  or  tell 
the  colour  of  love,  we  fail  to  explain  blighted  harvests 
by  cold  winds  sent  from  the  interior  of  Jotunheim 
by  the  Hrimthurses;  meteorology  has  altered  all 
this.  In  face  of  ethics,  and  sociology,  and  eco- 
nomics, we  no  longer  seek  counsels  of  perfection 
from  the  Norns.  And  yet,  transformed  completely 
as  these  intellectual  outlooks  are,  our  spiritual  thrust 
remains  very  much  as  it  always  was.  With  his 
customary  penetration,  Jesus  expressed  this  in  that 
memorable  answer  to  the  Pharisees,  when  they 
advised  him  to  flee  from  Herod.  "And  he  said  unto 
them.  Go  and  say  to  that  fox.  Behold,  I  cast  out 


SHEAVES    ON    THE    THRESHING-FLOOR  29 

demons  and  perform  cures  to-day  and  to-morrow, 
and  the  third  day  I  am  perfected.  Howbeit  I  must 
go  on  my  way  to-day  and  to-morrow  and  the  day 
following:  for  it  cannot  be  that  a  prophet  perish 
out  of  Jerusalem."  ^  Some  experiences  must  needs 
be  lived,  knowledge  cannot  satisfy  their  passion. 
Others  submit  to  logical  constructions  —  causation, 
for  instance.  And  the  former,  despite  their  elusive 
quality,  seem  to  possess  the  power  to  bring  us  into 
contact  with  such  changeless,  stable  states  as  our 
poor  human  nature  prefigures.  Intellectually,  man 
has  ever  walked  to-day,  and  to-morrow,  and  the  day 
following;  nevertheless,  in  the  deepest  things  of  his 
spirit,  it  cannot  be  that  a  prophet  perish  out  of  Jeru- 
salem; if  he  perish  there,  men  will  appropriate  his 
message  preeminently. 

But  paradox  supervenes  here.  Suppose  we  grant 
(although  it  makes  no  vital  difference  to  the  argu- 
ment) that  the  insights  of  a  Gotama  or  a  Jesus  are 
always  embodied  intellectually,  by  them  as  by  their 
disciples.  It  would  thus  appear  that  the  primary 
depends  upon  the  secondary  for  its  transmission  or 
maintenance,  and  in  relative  degree  becomes  second- 
ary itself.  I  am  unable  to  rest  in  this  view.  The 
paradox  seems  capable  of  resolution.     For,  the  con- 

'  Luke  xiii.  32-33. 


30       MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS    IN    BELIEF 

ceptual  presentation  of  this,  as  of  everything  else, 
cannot  but  be  called  symbolic.  And  the  root  of 
numerous  difficulties,  as  of  endless  religious  con- 
troversy, lies  embedded  in  the  constant  tendency  to 
deal  with  the  token  as  if  it  were  the  thing  betokened. 
The  two  patch  up  peace  continually  on  terms  det- 
rimental to  the  one  or  the  other;  consequently, 
they  have  waged,  and  wage  now,  an  unbroken, 
stem  struggle.  As  the  intellect  presses  forward  to 
sit  in  judgement,  Hfe  shakes  itself  free  and  demands 
justification.  "Woman,  beheve  me,  the  hour  cometh, 
when  neither  in  this  mountain,  nor  in  Jerusalem, 
shall  ye  worship  the  Father."  ^  In  the  profoundest 
sense,  this  hour  never  is,  but  always  is  to  be.  And 
why?  Because  religion  involves  elements  that  elude, 
not  merely  knowledge,  but  even  the  set  purpose  of  the 
men  who,  at  any  given  moment,  happen  to  have 
formulated  it.  Or,  in  philosophical  language,  its 
ultimate  character  is  dialectical.  To  wit ;  its  constitu- 
tive process  is  of  such  texture  that  the  intellect  cannot 
dictate  its  truth,  or  force  it  to  abide  in  dependence 
on  this  or  the  other  precise  scheme.  As  the  intellect 
passes  the  religious  material  through  its  medium, 
a  transformation  occurs  which  inevitably  starts  fur- 
ther transformations  from  time  to  time.     The  q^uod 

John  iv.  21. 


SHEAVES    ON    THE   THRESHING-FLOOR  3 1 

semper,  quod  ubique,  ct  quod  ab  omnibus,  so  far  as  it 
can  be  expressed  propositionally,  possesses,  in  the 
very  nature  of  the  case,  a  local  habitation  and  a  name. 
For,  the  tension  of  the  complete  manhood,  so  typical 
of  religion,  cannot  be  reproduced  by  any  species  of 
intellectual  alchemy.  The  explicitness  of  logic,  say, 
necessarily  removes  one  from  the  '  universe '  of  religion 
to  a  region  that  may  turn  out  of  a  far  different  sort. 
In  brief,  as  knowledge  clarifies  the  religious  con- 
sciousness, it  fails  proportionately  to  exhaust  it. 
So,  doubt,  or  at  any  rate  enquiry,  finds  due  oppor- 
tunity. The  slighted  portions,  as  it  were,  reappear 
over  and  over  again,  with  an  imperative  demand 
that  intellect  abate  its  toll.  Moreover,  this  process 
consists  in  no  appeal  to  sentiment,  to  feeling,  or  to 
some  vague  belief  in  vaguer  eventualities,  as  many 
neurotic  or  credulous  folk  seem  to  suppose.  Rather 
is  it  a  reference  to  facts  that  admit  of  no  trifling. 
The  less  must  face  a  new  triangulation  of  the  greater, 
in  order  to  correct  its  partial  computations.  For, 
clearly  enough,  the  abstractions  charmed  by  know- 
ledge from  life  fall  short  of  the  actual  fact.  Even 
the  most  general,  and  therefore  the  most  true,  '  law 
of  nature '  never  appHed,  as  formulated,  in  every 
observed  case.  How  much  more,  then,  the  poet 
hits  the  truth,  when  he  writes,  — 


32       MODERN   THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

"I  for  an  hour  have  grasp' d  the  great  insight  .  .  . 
A  system,  self-containment  which  is  beauty, 
The  beauty  that  my  creed  hath  wholly  missed." 

Thus,  when  we  carry  the  question  of  'universes,' 
with  their  evaluations  and  systematic  prescriptions, 
into  the  traffic  between  knowledge  and  religion,  we 
are  bound  to  admit  that  the  latter  supplies  the  pos- 
tulate. Of  course,  it  is  as  impossible  to  separate 
religion  from  conscious  research  and  reflexion  re- 
garding its  nature  as  to  talk  of  a  spiritual  reality 
out  of  all  relation  to  the  chemico-physical  world 
of  our  habitation.  Notwithstanding,  as  matter  of 
soberest  fact,  this  blind,  mechanical,  uniform  earth 
does  contain  the  aspirations  and  plans  of  humane 
beings.  For  us,  morals,  and  art,  and  religion  are 
live  things  at  least  as  potent  as  heat,  and  chemical 
affinity,  and  cellular  change.  No  one  enjoys  a  mo- 
nopoly of  necessity  more  than  any  other.  For,  an 
isolated  necessity,  a  necessity  that  fails  to  square 
with  others  incident  to  the  same  unity,  were  the 
purest  moonshine.  Accordingly,  as  intellectual  judge- 
ments refract  now  this,  now  that  aspect  of  our 
inconceivably  complex  life,  readjustments  become 
imperative,  and  such  experiences  as  religion  receive 
novel,  often  unexpected,  interpretations,  even  although 
the  fundamental  '  stuff '  remain  identical.    Remem- 


SHEAVES    ON   THE    THRESHING-FLOOR  33 

bering  all  this,  I  think  we  shall  have  laid  hold  upon 
a  clew  that  may  serve  to  solve  the  maze  surrounding 
certain  contemporary  difficulties,  even  if,  as  we  must 
recognize  quite  frankly,  our  human  nature  stands, 
as  ever,  — 

"well-nigh  vocal  with 

The  insight  of  this  tragedy  of  mute 

Omnipotence." 

Nor  does  the  story  cease  here.  As  thinkers  have 
shown  often,  men  are  mastered  by  an  ineradicable 
tendency  to  express  the  '  spiritual '  and  psychological 
in  terms  of  the  '  material '  and  sensuous.  In  its  elabo- 
ration upon  life,  knowledge  at  once  syncopates  and 
specifies  by  the  use  of  images.  The  process  serves 
to  throw  light  upon  our  condition,  because  it  exhibits, 
even  when  it  neglects  to  emphasize,  limitations  bound 
up  with  our  humanity.  A  cardinal  example  of  this 
procedure  happens  to  have  occurred,  and  to  have 
maintained  itself  more  or  less  intact,  midmost  the 
very  subject  of  these  Lectures.  The  materialistic 
analogy  from  a  geological  specimen,  or  a  river,  or  an 
animal  species  has  been  applied,  and  with  amazing 
persistence,  to  '  Christian  truth.'  Search  almost 
where  you  please  (time  and  place  appear  to  be  in- 
different), and  you  will  find  the  problem  of  religion 
conceived  as  if  the  task  were  to  trace  the  derivation 


34       MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

of  a  fixed  thing  from  a  definite  source.  To  attack 
the  question  thus,  however,  forecloses  the  result. 
The  method  only  imports  into  the  religious  '  universe ' 
ideas  that,  primarily,  possess  no  application  there, 
and,  secondarily,  raises  false,  even  irrational,  problems 
by  vicious  analogy.  The  popularity  of  the  attitude, 
like  its  constant  recurrence,  furnish  startling  com- 
mentary on  the  dangers  superinduced  by  interferences 
of  intellectual  abstraction.  But,  for  this  very  reason, 
it  may  be  viewed  as  perfectly  natural  and  explicable. 
Interferences  similar,  say,  to  those  of  a  microscope, 
our  conceptual  constructs  must  be  tested  and  cor- 
rected, even  altered  or  removed,  ere  we  reach  a  posi- 
tion to  record  the  precise  object  before  us.  Aids  to 
observation  and  reflexion  they  prove  from  time  to 
time,  without  doubt;  yet,  plainly,  they  hold  no 
patent  rights  in  truth.  And  the  major  difficulty 
incident  to  investigation  of  religion  centres  precisely 
in  man's  habit  of  consecrating  them  as  if  they  alone 
embodied  ascertainable  truth.  But,  just  like  '  laws 
of  nature, '  recognized  openly  as  abstractions  from 
experience,  these  religious  judgements  are  doomed 
to  change,  and  susceptible  to  purgation  from  ex- 
traneous or  temporal  admixture.  Negative  instances 
transform  them.  For  example,  the  discoveries  of 
Copernicus,  Lyell,   and  Darwin,  on  the  one  hand. 


SHEAVES    ON    THE    THRESHING-FLOOR  35 

of  Rawlinson,  F.  C.  Baur,  and  Kiienen,  on  the  other, 
have  altered  them  profoundly  in  the  course  of  a  brief 
history;  while  they  have  been  purified,  with  happy 
frequency,  by  those  miracles  of  concrete  human  life 
called  saints.  On  both  sides,  you  see,  hard  and  fast 
system  must  submit  to  constant  readjustment.  Thus, 
most  conspicuously,  God  has  justified  his  ways  to  man- 
kind. You  may  conceive  redemption  in  mechanical,  or 
juridical,  or  domestic  terms;  all  prove  to  have  been 
no  more  than  pictorial  representations.  The  problem 
abides  unlaid,  still  capable  of  further  illumination 
by  other  less  inadequate  statements.  So,  if  it  be 
true,  as  many  tell  us,  that  the  collapse  of  dogmatic 
Christianity  forms  the  most  significant  among  con- 
temporary movements,  we  need  not  lose  our  heads 
and  give  way  to  panic.  Let  us  stress  the  adjective, 
remembering  that,  in  the  words  of  one  of  the  most 
pious  scholars  of  last  century,  "many  a  traditional 
idea  which  circulates  amongst  us  seems  credible 
only  because  we  have  never  examined  it."  ^  Let 
us  remind  ourselves,  too,  that  'traditional  ideas,' 
like  present  opinions,  are  no  more  than  essays  to 
prefigure  religious  truth  more  completely.  For  the 
truth  of  religion  cannot  be  brought  in  question  any 
more  than  the  truth  of  nature,  no  matter  how  much 

^  Still  Hours,  Richard  Rothe,  p.  68  (Eng.  trans.). 


36       MODERN    THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS    IN    BELIEF 

or  how  often  we  may  be  led  to  revise  our  manner 
of  formulating  both  to  our  meagre  understandings. 

Finally,  the  considerations  just  adduced  seem 
to  force  the  conclusion  that,  whatever  religion  may 
be,  it  is  not  a  set  system  of  formulated  doctrine,  or 
even  an  aggregate  of  clarified  beliefs,  especially  be- 
liefs in  the  existence  of  imaginary,  or  in  the  authority 
and  power  of  dead,  personages.  I  have  referred 
to  '  the  tension  of  the  complete  manhood.'  ^  By  this 
I  mean  to  suggest  that  while,  probably,  a  satisfac- 
tory definition  of  religion  is  beyond  reach,  every 
attempt  at  definition  presupposes  a  certain  psycho- 
logical state,  —  often  termed  '  spiritual,'  —  a  state  pe- 
culiar to  human  beings,  so  far  as  we  can  know.  That 
is  to  say,  we  are  confronted  by  a  process  in  experience, 
offering  the  chief  characteristics  of  other  processes 
in  self-consciousness.  In  all  likelihood,  examination 
would  prove  it  excessively  complex.  Many  coeffi- 
cients would  enter  into  its  constitution;  above  all, 
it  would  be  directed  by  some  ideal  or  apperceptive 
evaluation  which,  in  its  turn,  would  show  up  endless 
subtleties.  It  would  imply  "the  control  of  our 
activity  as  thinking  beings  by  conditions  which  are 
fixed  for  us  and  not  by  us."  ^     And  it  might  be  very 

*  See  above,  p.  31. 

^  Analytic  Psychology,  G.  F.  Stout,  vol.  ii,  p.  239. 


SHEAVES    ON    THE    THRESHING-FLOOR  37 

prone  to  involve  tlie  fallacy,  universal  among  savages, 
common  even  among  civilized  folk,  our  neighbours, 
of  mistaking  subjective  for  objective  necessity.  Be 
all  this  as  it  may,  the  psychological  situation  in  the 
process  of  experience,  tense  enough  to  rise  to  the 
levels  of  religion,  certainly  absorbs  into  itself  those 
main  factors  of  the  inner  life  known  generally  as 
Intellect,  Desire,  and  Will.  Thus,  as  I  have  tried 
to  indicate,  the  expression  by  intellect  alone  falls 
short  of  the  jubilant  reality,  and  unavoidably  so. 
Reason  seeks  order,  completion,  unity.  But  the 
spirit-life  swoops  on,  carrying  intellect  with  it,  and 
exacting  original  perspectives  for  original  conclusions. 
Thus  any  effort  after  apotheosis  of  a  single  stage  spells 
failure.  Sufficient  with  incomparable  sufficiency  as 
the  '  beautiful  moment '  may  be,  its  very  perfection 
breeds  defect,  the  instant  its  day  of  due  reckoning 
passes. 

"...  the  thoughts  of  men  are  widened  with  the  process 
of  the  suns." 

The  central  and  dominating  fact  in  religion  is  its 
imperious  call  for  a  new  way  of  life;  and  this  seeks 
freedom  as  its  indispensable  condition.  Yet,  when 
man  comes  to  think  of  such  matters,  the  central  and 
dominating  fact  is  the  imperious  call  for  cut-and- 
dried  system,  for  something  'to  go  by';    and  this 


38      MODERN  THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

seeks  bondage  as  its  indispensable  condition.  They 
have  never  been  coordinate,  never  can  be.  On  the 
other  hand,  let  the  intellect  fall  as  short  as  it  may  or 
must,  it  is  enlisted  invariably,  as  if  in  veriest  despite. 
The  new  creature  cannot  escape  self-caricature. 
So,  if  the  heretic  of  to-day  miss  beatification  to-mor- 
row, the  golden  words  that  hush  mankind  might 
often  fall  upon  silence.  Every  generation  must 
bear  the  burden  of  this  lesson  after  its  fashion.  The 
human  soul  chains  itself  at  each  successive  sunset, 
and,  with  the  glow  of  the  next  dawn,  would  fain 
strike  off  the  shackles.  But,  enamoured  of  its 
evening  artistry,  doubts  and  tears,  angry  passions 
and  ugly  words  beset  it,  as  it  rouses  anon  to  the 
sense  of  an  undone  task,  and  fondles  the  forms  it 
would  fain  break  to  be  rid  of  impediments.  Past 
satisfactions  indeed  rest  satisfactions;  notwithstand- 
ing, unprecedented  sights  so  move,  and  prophetic 
promptings  so  pulsate  that  the  throb  of  joy  becomes 
the  measure  of  unplumbed  sadness.  The  ideal,  as 
stated,  as  something  to  be  maintained  stoutly,  baulks 
the  ideal  that  beckons  to  distant  and  untried  ends. 
Our  tragedy  —  and  our  salvation  —  pivot  on  a 
religion  that  professes  to  come  complete  from  a  past 
dead  and  done  with;  yet  this  religion  is,  or  con- 
tinues in  vitality,  only  because  quickened  by  the 


SHEAVES    ON    THE    THRESHING-FLOOR  39 

perennial  inspiration  of  the  blood-tinctured  present. 
By  a  law  of  our  innermost  nature,  then,  we  are  con- 
demned to  pass  through  the  valley  of  negation  ere 
we  win  any  Pisgah-sight  atop  the  mount  of  trans- 
figured and  transfiguring  faith. 

"For  we  are  Ancients  of  the  earth, 
And  in  the  morning  of  the  times. 
So  sleeping,  so  aroused  from  sleep 
Thro'  sunny  decades  new  and  strange, 
Or  gay  quinquenniads  would  we  reap 
The  flower  and  quintessence  of  change  .  .  . 
The  prelude  to  some  brighter  world." 

In  the  three  subsequent  Lectures  I  shall  attempt 
to  summarize  the  two  intellectual  achievements  of 
the  past  century  that  are  responsible  for  most  of 
our  present  disquiet  and  unrest  in  religion;  the 
hazards  of  belief  congregate  here  for  us.  As  I  fol- 
low this  difficult  track,  you  must  do  me  the  favour 
to  bear  in  mind  certain  things.  First,  I  shall  be 
compelled  to  deal  with  researches  in  which  I  have 
borne  no  part.  They  lie  as  open  to  you  as  to  me, 
we  are  equally  in  the  hands  of  their  master-builders. 
In  other  words,  I  shall  speak,  not  as  an  authority, 
but  as  any  educated  man  might.  Second,  time- 
limits  require  that  discussions  of  pros  and  cons  dis- 
appear; these  you  can  find  in  literature  accessible 
to  everybody.    Third,  I  fear  many  fail  to  realize 


40      MODERN    THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   EN   BELIEF 

just  what  is  fast  becoming  commonplace  among 
competent  scholars;  and  so  I  am  bound  to  arrange 
the  material  in  such  a  way  that  its  cumulative  effect 
may  strike  straight  home.  This,  indeed,  will  con- 
dition the  problem  to  which  I  shall  invite  your 
attention  in  the  four  concluding  Lectures. 


LECTURE   II 

THE  WATERS   OF    MERIBAH 

While,  as  we  have  seen,  religion  eludes  definition, 
its  character  cannot  be  compassed  in  a  series  of 
words,  a  very  general  description  may  not  transgress 
the  bounds  of  prudence.  Religion  is  a  state  in- 
duced in  self-consciousness  by  man's  sense  of  his 
own  insignificance  and  imperfection,  as  contrasted 
with  the  high  vocation  revealed  to  him  by  his  ardent, 
if  froward,  ideals.  Incarnate  only  in  human  flesh, 
this  psychological  condition  energizes  two  ways. 
On  the  one  hand,  it  compels  an  accounting  from 
the  physical  world,  or  seeks  reply  from  Nature  to 
all  sorts  of  questions  about  which,  fundamentally, 
Nature  must  remain  utterly  dumb.  Sweep  the 
mighty  visibilities  of  the  heavens  with  the  telescope, 
the  minute  invisibilities  of  the  earth  with  the  micro- 
scope, intensify  both  range  and  power  of  observation 
as  you  will,  you  are  thrust  back,  to  say,  '  Behold,  it 
is  not  there ! '  The  Sphinx  is  ever  with  us,  for,  on 
the  Whence,  the  Why,  the  Whither,  this  frame  of 

41 


42       MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS  IN  BELIEF 

things,  as  our  immediate  perceptions  disclose  it,  has 
scarce  a  hint  to  offer.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
religious  consciousness  composes  an  interpretation 
of  'spiritual'  life,  and  would  force  the  very  gates  of 
heaven  to  assuage  its  yearning.  But,  in  proceeding 
thus,  it  quits  the  region  of  sober  knowledge,  and 
acquires  what  no  pure  scientia  ever  pretended  to 
supply,  —  a  constructive  estimate  of  the  relative 
values  to  be  put  upon  events  possible  and  probable 
nowhere  outside  the  mystic  regions  of  the  soul. 
According  as  the  tension  of  the  religious  process  is, 
so  will  the  satisfactions  peculiar  to  this  evaluation 
be.  Here  solutions  abound  in  plenty;  but  they 
descend  from  their  father,  the  heavenly  vision,  and 
betray  everywhere  unmistakable  traces  of  their  line- 
age, —  an  origin  in  ideal  possibility,  not  in  mundane 
attainment. 

"The  night  is  come,  and  all  the  world  is  still. 
Men  say  it  is  a  time  for  sleep  and  dreams; 
But  now  she  throws  no  pall  upon  the  space 
That  spreads  above  me.  .  .  . 

Meseems 
This  is  the  hour  for  man  to  bend  the  knee 
Of  the  full  soul  to  the  Divinity." 

Now,  even  if  the  ideal  truth  of  religion  be  thus 
admitted,   it   were   lamentable   to   forget   that   the 


THE    WATERS    OF    MERIBAH  43 

halting  embodiment  issues  on  earth.  An  intellect 
manifested  in  its  own  refracting  forms  and  processes, 
emotions  accompanied  by  the  somatic  states  char- 
acteristic of  an  animal,  albeit  the  most  complex 
animal,  and  a  will,  foiled  continually  by  circum- 
stances that  are  none  of  its  creation,  impose  terms 
present  in  every  statement.  Thus,  as  these  psycho- 
logical factors,  in  unison  or  conflict,  happen  to 
envisage  experience  at  any  given  time,  so  the  spe- 
cial activities  of  consciousness,  typical  of  religion, 
express  themselves.  Accordingly,  difificulties  and 
doubts,  changes  and  transformations  occur,  often 
cozening  the  human  spirit,  and  yet  bearing  witness 
to  its  kaleidoscopic  limits,  as  it  struggles  to  liberate 
its  dearest  aspirations. 

These  matters  must  now  claim  attention  at  some 
length.  There  never  was  a  crisis  when  they  de- 
manded more  candour  and  plain  speaking,  or  sin- 
cerer  discussion  of  grave  questions,  especially  before 
an  audience  composed,  for  the  larger  part,  of  those 
who,  from  day  to  day,  are  forced  into  contact  with 
information,  ascertained  or  in  process  of  consolida- 
tion, that  traverses  some  past  presentations  of 
*  Christian  truth,'  rich  in  sacred  association  to  many, 
not  least  to  myself.  Nevertheless,  nobody  need 
fear  facts;    all  ought  to  fear  suppositions  and  ex 


44       MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

parte  pleas,  particularly  with  regard  to  subjects  of 
the  last  importance  for  a  sane  view  of  the  deep  that 
calls  unto  deep  in  our  common  humanity.  Afraid 
'to  face  the  music'  of  all  that  has  become  incor- 
porated in  the  treasure  of  knowledge,  religion  shrivels 
easily  to  superstition.  It  were  surely  most  perilous 
that,  confronted  with  man's  profoundest  needs,  we 
should  rest  satisfied  with  unevidenced  affirmations, 
or  worse,  with  opinions  erroneous  obviously  to  every- 
one who  is  free  to  judge.  At  this  good  hour,  re- 
ligion suffers  violence  far  more  through  misbelief 
than  through  scepticism;  nobody  mocks  Chris- 
tianity, thousands  jest  over  the  thaumaturgy  where- 
with too  many  confuse  it.  Would,  indeed,  that  we 
might  pass  the  cup  of  these  waters  of  bitterness! 
But  that  is  impossible  —  impossible  even  were  the 
conclusion  forced  irrevocably  to  those  hopeless 
terms;  "philosophy  having  become  a  meditation, 
not  merely  of  death,  but  of  annihilation,  the  precept 
know  thyself  has  become  transformed  into  the  ter- 
rific oracle  to  (Edipus  — 

"  '  Mayest  thou  ne'er  know  the  truth  of  what  thou  art.' " ' 

The  scene  of  proof  —  and  of  strife  —  lies  athwart 
the  strait  way  to  the  valley  of  blessing.     Like  Job, 

'  A    Candid   Examination   of  Theism,   by   'Physicus'    (G.    J. 
Romanes),  p.  114  (3d  ed.). 


THE    WATERS    OF    MERIBAH  45 

we  answer  the  Lord,  and  say,  "Hear,  I  beseech  thee, 
and  I  will  speak ;  I  will  demand  of  thee,  and  declare 
thou  unto  me."  ^  We  tempt  the  Father  of  Lights, 
and  in  all  reverence,  because  He  has  left  us  without 
other  choice,  contemporary  knowledge  being  as 
truly  a  divine  revelation  as  ancient  faith.  "And  he 
called  the  name  of  the  place  Massah,  and  Meribah, 
because  of  the  striving  of  the  children  of  Israel,  and 
because  they  tempted  the  Lord,  saying,  Is  the  Lord 
among  us  or  not?"  ^ 

It  will  save  misunderstanding,  and  serve  to  elimi- 
nate qualifications  like  'perhaps,'  'but,'  'I  think,' 
and  so  forth,  if  I  state  at  the  outset  that  my  aim  is  to 
delineate  the  perspective,  still  unfamiliar  to  a  con- 
siderable section  of  the  lay  public,  resultant  upon 
the  entire  trend  of  enquiry  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  to  envisage  the  attendant  difficulties  without 
any  shirking.  In  other  words,  the  main  tendency  of 
science  and  scholarship  in  our  age,  in  its  full  rigour 
and  vigour,  rather  than  this  or  that  restricted  set  of 
conclusions,  will  pass  before  us.  This  is  no  place 
to  exhibit  the  apparatus  in  detail,  and  I  must  reserve 
particulars  for  another  occasion.  You  will  under- 
stand, therefore,  that  I  am  not  necessarily  in  accord 
with  every  inference;   I  desire  only  to  state  the  case 

*  Job  xlii.  4.  ^  Exodus  xvii.  7. 


46       MODERN   THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

in  such  terms  that  none  can  mistake  its  meaning. 
If  we  are  caught  in  a  veritable  sea  of  troubles,  we 
must  know  at  least  what  dangers  threaten. 

Unconscious  of  the  strong  synthetic  and  suggestive 
pressure  exerted  by  the  prevalent  outlook  of  an 
epoch,  we,  even  the  students  among  us,  tend  to  for- 
get that  we  gaze  upon  a  recent  universe,  one  con- 
cealed largely,  if  not  completely,  a  brief  century  since. 
Cast  the  mind's  eye  back  to  the  era  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  or  of  that  mightier  cataclysm, 
the  French  Revolution,  and  what  close  grip  upon 
men,  organisms,  and  things  do  we  find  ?  Less  than 
might  be  supposed.  A  mathematical  conspectus  of 
the  mechanical  relations  subsisting  between  the 
molar  masses  of  the  solar  system,  extended  by 
analogy  to  a  few  farther  stars,  formed  the  sum-total, 
to  all  intents  and  purposes.  Of  the  physical  state 
and  chemical  constitution  of  these  units  next  to 
nothing  had  been  ascertained  intimately.  Contrari- 
wise, misconceptions  or  random  guesses  abounded 
in  the  realms  of  chemistry,  natural  history,  and 
physiology;  astounding  superstitions  concerning 
humanity  in  its  most  typical  achievements  —  reli- 
gion, art,  morals,  and  society;  nigh  total  ignorance 
about  a  possible  coherent  interpretation  of  history. 
Accordingly,    we   must   recall   that,    since   the   dis- 


THE    WATERS    OF    MERIBAII  47 

tinguished  victim  of  the  French  Revolution,  Lavoi- 
sier, dethroned  phlogiston,  the  physical  sciences  — 
astronomy,  physics,  geology,  and  chemistry  —  have 
undergone  extensive  transformation.  Since  Bell 
noted  the  difference  between  the  afferent  and  efferent 
nerves,  the  biological  sciences  have  come  to  birth, 
and  accurate  conclusions  from  controlled  observa- 
tion have  replaced  conjectures  bred  of  mere  sus- 
picion. Since  Hegel  enunciated  the  epoch-making 
principle,  that  human  experience  explains  its  own 
development,  and  that,  otherwise,  it  is  irrational, 
whole  series  of  human  sciences  have  been  elaborated. 
Thus,  no  matter  where  we  pry,  we  contemplate  a 
universe  unsuspected  by  our  forefathers,  and  com- 
mand numerous  principles  hidden  quite  from  them. 
Literally,  a  new  heavens,  a  new  earth,  and  a  new 
'all  that  therein  is'  salute  us.  Moreover,  whether 
we  be  astronomers  or  physicists,  chemists  or  physi- 
ologists, biologists  or  psychologists,  historians  or 
philologists,  anthropologists  or  philosophers,  we 
envisage  our  several  topics  from  a  standpoint  identi- 
cal in  essentials  for  everyone.  Indeed,  so  far  has 
this  unitary  movement  proceeded  that,  for  each,  as 
concerns  his  special  investigations,  another  view 
were  well-nigh  inconceivable.  Yet,  when  Dalton 
was  excogitating  his  atomic  theory,  just  one  hun- 


48       MODERN   THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

dred  years  ago,  this  same  view  found  no  applica- 
tion outside  'celestial  mechanics,'  and,  even  there, 
room  remained  for  contradictory  possibilities,  as  was 
evidenced  by  Newton's  naive  idea,  inherited  by 
Paley's  egregious  philosophy,  that  a  Being  uncom- 
monly familiar  with  the  laws  of  geometry  had  in- 
jected gravitation  and  inertia  into  the  heavenly 
bodies.  This  compelHng  apposition,  between  the 
contemporary  outlook  and  that  regnant  till  about 
the  middle  of  last  century,  may  be  brought  to  a 
sharp  point  in  the  statement  that,  for  the  former, 
the  universe  is  one,  for  the  latter  it  always  was  two. 
To  us,  the  universal  processes  energizing  everywhere 
supply  the  primary  well-springs  of  explanation;  to 
our  predecessors,  an  otiose  reference  to  a  somewhat, 
neither  mind  nor  matter  (or,  as  we  would  say,  neither 
consciousness  nor  energy),  to  a  somewhat,  therefore, 
unknowable  ex  hypothesi,  provided  an  extra-mun- 
dane mystery  whereto  nearer  mysteries  might  be 
traced  back.  And  the  more  subtle  the  problems  on 
hand,  the  more  intricate  and  elusive  their  factors, 
the  more  besetting  the  presence  of  this  tenuous, 
pervasive  makeshift.  To  illustrate:  'celestial  me- 
chanics' almost  excluded  it,  but  in  chemistry, 
biology,  psychology,  literature  and  language,  morals 
and  religion,   in  an  expanding  series,   opportunity 


THE    WATERS    OF    MERIBAH  49 

offered    for   the    vagaries    of    supranatural    inter- 
ference. 

How  potently  this  metaphrastic  phantasy  ruled 
may  be  seen  vividly  from  a  cursory  acquaintance 
with  the  marvels  supposed  popularly  to  offer  ade- 
quate guarantee  of  authority  in  morals,  of  the  au- 
thenticity of  the  human  mind,  and  of  the  truth  of 
religion.  Take  the  last,  for  example ;  what  a  mourn- 
ful record  appears !  The  Ptolemaic  astronomy,  dis- 
torted by  geocentric  myopia,  was  made  the  corner- 
stone of  Christianity.  The  divine  inspiration  of 
the  Hebrew  points  was  held  essential  to  the  preser- 
vation of  orthodox  faith.  It  was  contended  that, 
apart  from  literal  foretelling  by  Old  Testament 
prophecy,  the  New  Testament  could  not  be  vindi- 
cated. It  was  asserted,  by  no  less  a  person  than 
Wesley,  if  memory  serve  me  rightly,  that  the  in- 
violability of  the  Christian  faith  is  bound  up  with  a 
beHef  in  witchcraft.  It  was  imagined  commonly 
that  man's  hope  of  eternal  salvation  reposed  on  the 
historical  accuracy  of  the  creation  myth  in  Genesis, 
and  that  the  certainty  of  this  expectation  found 
strong  credentials  in  the  fable  of  Lot's  wife  and  in 
the  tale  of  Jonah's  incarceration  in  the  whale.  It 
was  actually  alleged,  with  perfect  sobriety,  that  the 
discovery  that  the  world  and  man  were  created  by 


50      MODERN    THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

the  Trinity  on  October  23d,  4004  B.C.,  at  nine  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  had  essential  bearing  on  the  spiritual 
life.  It  was  asked,  cynically,  "Who  will  venture  to 
place  the  authority  of  Copernicus  above  that  of  the 
Holy  Spirit?"  Geology  suffered  judgement  as  "an 
awful  invasion  of  the  testimony  of  revelation."  It 
was  maintained,  as  an  important  scientific  fact,  that 
because  "death  entered  the  world  by  sin,"  there 
was  no  death  on  earth  prior  to  Eve's  fault.  It  was 
insisted  that  "of  all  instruments  of  God's  vengeance 
the  thunderbolt  is  the  chief."  Study  of  physics,  as 
of  medicine  and  chemistry,  was  interdicted  by 
ecclesiastical  order  "on  account  of  certain  sus- 
picious novelties."  The  bones  of  a  goat,  suppositi- 
tiously  those  of  St.  Rosalia,  were  employed  as 
fetiches  to  heal  disease,  on  the  obvious  ground  that 
"bodily  infirmity  frequently  results  from  sin." 
Lunacy  and  hysteria  were  attributed  to  the  machi- 
nations of  Satan,  and  treated  accordingly.  It  was 
stated  gravely  that  the  Almighty  spoke  Hebrew, 
and  that  every  language  originated  from  this  one 
at  Babel.  Numbers  taught  that  the  Pentateuch 
was  dictated  to  Moses  by  the  Deity  about  1520  B.C., 
and  affirmed  that  any  other  view  must  be  stigmatized 
as  "a  mass  of  impieties,  a  bulwark  of  irreligion." 
The  probable  historical  interpretation  of  the  famous 


THE    WATERS    OF    MERIBAH 


51 


Immanuel  passage  in  ''Isaiah"  was  dismissed  as 
''horrible,  false,  perverse,  and  destructive."  On  the 
contrary,  every  scientific  statement  in  the  Bible  was 
described  as  ''infallibly  accurate;  all  its  histories 
and  narrations  of  every  kind  are  without  any  inac- 
curacy, its  words  and  phrases  have  a  grammatical 
and  philological  accuracy  such  as  is  possessed  by  no 
human  composition."  ^  Baseless  dogmas  and  childish 
errors  of  a  similar  kind  might  be  adduced  practically 
without  limit ;  and,  strange  to  say,  all  alike  —  mon- 
strous, absurd,  or  merely  silly  —  have  been  put  for- 
ward as  foundations  or  essential  portions  of '  Christian 
truth.'  As  a  matter  of  fact,  so  far  from  having  aught 
to  do  with '  Christian  truth,'  all  issued  from  the  precon- 
ceived view  of  the  universe  as  two,  the  Irish-bull  con- 
ception of  ultimacy,  now  abandoned  by  investigators. 
According  to  current  conceptions,  the  universe 
ebbs  and  flows  in  a  single,  vast  order  —  of  a  second 
order,  incommensurable  with  this,  we  know  nothing. 
It  presents  itself  as  a  '  closed  whole,'  explicable  from 
within  on  its  own  terms,  never  as  a  broken  system 
controlled  from  without  by  some  bruited,  but  ab- 
sentee, designer.     Such  is  the  conclusion  to  which 

*  See,  for  very  full  details,  A  History  of  the  Warfare  between 
Science  and  Theology  in  Christendom,  Andrew  D.  White.  The 
weak  point  of  the  book  is  Dr.  White's  rather  jejune  notion  of 
theology. 


52       MODERN    THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

we  have  been,  and  are  being,  driven  on  all  sides  by 
serried  testimony  pouring  in  overwhelmingly  from 
every  scrutiny  undertaken  by  special  investigation. 
Obviously  enough,  it  imports,  not  simply  a  change, 
but  a  complete  revision  of  the  ideas  we  can  enter- 
tain about  religion  as,  indeed,  about  anything.  No 
doubt,  a  smooth  agreement  concerning  the  w?ys 
taken  by  the  process  has  not  eventuated,  cannot 
eventuate,  probably,  for  years  to  come.  But  con- 
sensus about  the  basal  fact  tends  to  become  more 
and  more  unified.  In  other  words,  differ  as  we 
may  and  do  over  the  means  operative  in  the  cosmos, 
less  and  less  divergence  exists  about  the  attitude  to 
be  adopted  towards  the  universal  order.  Whatever 
conclusions  may  emerge  in  a  future  we  wot  not  of, 
certain  it  is  that  all  who  hold  convictions  respecting 
the  immense  importance  of  religion  must  face  the 
altered  situation  —  and  the  sooner  the  better.  The 
churches,  particularly  if  the  laity  will  rouse  and 
assert  themselves,  stand  in  the  shadow  of  an  unex- 
ampled problem,  as  of  a  unique  opportunity.  Signs 
of  the  times,  so  clear  that  he  who  runs  may  read, 
indicate  a  direct,  strenuous  demand  upon  them. 
It  amounts  to  no  less  than  this  —  that  they  bring 
Christianity  down  from  the  clouds  of  outworn  sup- 
position to  tabernacle  in  the  common  places  of  our 


THE    WATERS    OF    MERIBAH  53 

sore  puzzled  workaday  life.  The  religion  of  unre- 
stricted, spontaneous  access  to  God  can  hardly 
retain  its  propulsive  leadership  under  the  handicap 
of  petrific  formulas  alien  from  the  most  earnest  in- 
sight of  the  day,  and  permeated  with  imagery  too 
often  crass  in  its  reminiscent  paganism. 

"And  not  by  eastern  windows  only, 

When  daylight  comes,  comes  in  the  light, 
In  front  the  sun  climbs  slow,  how  slowly, 
But  westward,  look,  the  land  is  bright." 

Beyond  question,  many  cherish  the  conviction 
that  scientific  advance  has  bereft  life  of  worth  and 
hope.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  equally  clear  that  num- 
bers raise  a  joyous  paean  to  the  victory  of  'reason' 
over  'superstition.'  In  proceeding  to  attempt  a 
delineation  of  the  case,  I  shall  not  forget  either  ex- 
treme. But  the  root  of  bitterness  will  have  pre- 
cedence. 

For  the  sake  of  convenience  and  brevity,  it  may 
be  well  to  adopt  the  objective  classification  of  modern 
knowledge.  The  'universes'  of  'things'  and  of  'liv- 
ing things'  group  themselves  under  the  title  'science,' 
in  the  narrow  sense  accepted  conventionally.  So, 
too,  the  'universes'  of  'self  and  of  'other  selves'  fall 
together.  But  this  unity  exhibits  two  aspects.  On 
the  one  side,  it  regards  man  as  he  has  been  and  is; 


54       MODEEN   THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

from  another  it  contemplates  him  as  he  ought  to 
live,  or  as  he  might  become.  Thus  the  field  of 
knowledge  so  distributes  itself  that  we  are  bidden 
review  the  situation,  yir^/,  as  'science'  sees  it;  sec- 
ond, as  it  appears  from  the  standpoint  of  historico- 
critical  research;  third,  as  it  flashes  forth  in  the 
ideal  spheres  of  morals  and  religion.  Yet,  even 
accepting  this  tripartite  division,  we  must  recall 
that,  in  every  instance,  the  unconquerable  duality 
of  human  nature  —  as  physical  and  self-conscious 
—  produces  disturbance  and,  by  consequence,  sets 
problems  of  the  utmost  intricacy,  generates  fertile 
misconceptions. 

I.    The  Scientific  Consciousness 

It  should  be  noted  at  once  that  the  tremulous 
essays  of  the  early  masters  —  Hipparchus,  for  ex- 
ample —  and  the  refined  experiments  of  a  Ruther- 
ford and  a  Ramsay,  of  a  McMurrich  and  a  Morgan, 
exhibit  no  difference  in  spirit.  The  contrast  hap- 
pens to  be  one  of  sweep  —  of  the  material  wherein 
scientific  method  can  work  victoriously.  So,  at  the 
outset,  let  us  take  stock  of  this  common  spirit. 

No  recondite  observation  were  necessary  to  prove 
that,  in  average  affairs,  the  characters  of  our  friends 
tend  to  differ.     Putting  the  matter  very  synoptically, 


THE    WATERS    OF    MERIBAH  55 

one  may  affirm  that  now  this,  now  that,  element  in 
the  psychological  organization  dominates  an  indi- 
vidual. We  all  know  the  person  whom  emotion  or, 
as  often,  sentiment  masters;  similarly,  some  betray 
tlie  primacy  of  intellect,  others  of  will.  Roughly, 
these  contrasts  of  psychological  expression  correspond 
to  divergent  types  of  reaction  upon  the  most  ordinary 
events.  Social  institutions  intimate  as  much.  All 
members  do  not  subserve  the  same  offices,  as  an 
influential  writer  saw  years  ago.  "And  God  hath 
set  some  in  the  church,  first  apostles,  secondly 
prophets,  thirdly  teachers,  then  powxrs,  then  gifts 
of  healings,  helps,  governments,  divers  kinds  of 
tongues."  ^  Plainly,  the  aesthetic  or  emotional,  the 
utilitarian  or  practical,  and  the  critical  or  reflective 
temperaments  are  ever  with  us,  each  ministering  in 
virtue  of  its  special  gifts.  The  last  has  made  the 
nineteenth  century  peculiarly  its  own,  and,  for  three 
generations,  has  contrived  to  set  its  seal  upon  the 
prevalent  trend  of  the  age.  As  its  self-set  task 
would  lead  one  to  expect,  its  habitual  spirit  presents 
little,  if  any,  mystery.  Confronted  with  the  tortuous 
operations  of  nature,  the  scientific  consciousness 
scents  order  throughout,  and  strives  to  sublimate  its 
consequent  inferences  into  baldest  simplicity.     The 

*  I  Corinthians  xii.  28. 


56       MODERN   THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

laws  of  motion,  the  kinetic  theory  of  gases,  the  law 
of  the  tides,  the  theorems  of  the  conservation  of 
energy  and  of  evolution  are  reductions  of  phenomenal 
flurry  to  very  plain  routine.  Consequences  of  long, 
intimate,  and  most  ascetic  devotion,  their  history 
exhibits  the  attitude  necessary  to  scientific  achieve- 
ment. Thus  certain  qualities  evince  their  unabashed 
presence  invariably.  To  wit:  in  the  first  place, 
scrupulous  care  and  unprecedented  accuracy.  Noth- 
ing is  too  unimportant  to  be  overlooked;  no  trouble 
counts  for  hardship,  so  long  as  review  and  confirma- 
tion continue  desiderata;  above  all,  the  uttermost 
loyalty  to  fact  rules  supreme.  Secondly,  on  the  basis 
of  these  qualities  a  certain  confidence  supervenes, 
and  receives  justification  from  the  gradual  rise  of  a 
solid  masonry  of  knowledge.  Small  wonder !  For, 
no  matter  what  one's  predilections  or  prejudices,  no 
matter  what  one's  hopes,  or  fears,  or  desires,  con- 
clusions drive  home  with  sublime  disregard.  In  the 
scientific  kingdom  nought  happens  according  to  man's 
wish  or  will ;  everything  issues  from  a  dry,  intellectual 
recognition  that  thus,  and  thus  alone,  the  unheed- 
ing phenomena  take  their  changeless  way.  Third, 
as  a  natural  sequel,  the  new  coordinations  collide 
with  otiose  supposition  and  unexamined  belief. 
The  stimulus  of  conflict  is  generated,  fresh  material 


THE    WATERS    OF    MERIBAH  57 

forces  itself  within  the  scope  of  research,  and  the 
scientific  mind  presses  on  to  wider  inferences.  But 
transformation  involves  destruction,  and  the  very 
process  vitalizes  once  more  many  affairs  left 
for  dead  or  foreclosed.  This  movement,  fourthly, 
leads  to  formulations  of  hypotheses  —  everything 
cannot  be  settled  in  a  moment;  while  hypotheses 
demand  fresh  observations,  original  experiments, 
and  more  circumspect  reflexion.  Accordingly,  the 
scientific  spirit  displays  its  transitive  qualities  in 
two  main  directions.  On  the  one  side,  by  insistence 
upon  the  need  for  a  definite  knowledge  purged  of 
mystery  and  snap-shot  opinion,  it  warns  the  human 
mind  against  impracticable  adventures.  On  the 
other,  by  its  total  disregard  of  fetters  forged  by  sup- 
position in  the  'ages  of  faith,'  it  liberates  mankind, 
and  urges  to  the  analysis  of  experience  in  its  every 
cranny.  Baseless  authority  thus  goes  by  the  board, 
and  all  restrictions,  confining  inquiry  to  ruts  where 
'  peradventures '  and  prohibitions  prevail,  vanish 
away.  Nothing  is  to  be  interdicted;  nothing  can 
be  too  unexpected  or  unpalatable,  provided  it  pre- 
sent itself  panopHed  with  evidence.  In  a  free 
atmosphere  a  rigid  methodism  builds  out  its  bridge, 
with  elaborate  precaution,  over  the  chasm  of  the 
unknown. 


58      MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS    IN  BELIEi' 

Consequently,  as  the  scientific  spirit  sees,  its 
mission  is  never  to  conform  the  cosmos  to  a  logical, 
much  less  to  a  theological,  scheme,  but  to  describe 
verifiable  connexions,  and  to  recount  how  these 
connexions  are  maintained  as  a  matter  of  simple 
observation  under  conditions  that  preclude  sub- 
jective disturbance.  As  Spencer  said,  in  one  of  his 
earliest  essays :  — 

"Considered  genealogically,  the  received  theory 
respecting  the  creation  of  the  Solar  System  is  un- 
mistakably of  low  origin.  You  may  clearly  trace 
it  back  to  primitive  mythologies.  Its  remotest 
ancestor  is  the  doctrine  that  the  celestial  bodies  are 
personages  who  originally  lived  on  the  Earth  —  a 
doctrine  still  held  by  some  of  the  negroes  Living- 
stone visited.  Science  having  divested  the  sun  and 
planets  of  their  divine  personalities,  this  old  idea 
was  succeeded  by  the  idea  which  even  Kepler  enter- 
tained, that  the  planets  are  guided  in  their  courses 
by  presiding  spirits:  no  longer  themselves  gods, 
they  are  still  severally  kept  in  their  orbits  by  gods. 
And  when  gravitation  came  to  dispense  with  these 
celestial  steersmen,  there  was  begotten  a  belief, 
less  gross  than  its  parent,  but  partaking  of  the  same 
essential  nature,  that  the  planets  were  originally 
launched  into  their  orbits  from  the  Creator's  hand. 


THE    WATERS    OF   MERIBAH  59 

.  .  .  While  the  genesis  of  the  Solar  System,  and 
of  countless  other  systems  like  it,  is  thus  rendered 
comprehensible,  the  ultimate  mystery  continues  as 
great  as  ever.  The  problem  of  existence  is  not 
solved:  it  is  simply  removed  further  back.  The 
Nebular  Hypothesis  throws  no  light  on  the  origin 
of  diffused  matter;  and  diffused  matter  as  much 
needs  accounting  for  as  concrete  matter.  The 
genesis  of  an  atom  is  not  easier  to  conceive  than  the 
genesis  of  a  planet.  Nay,  indeed,  so  far  from  mak- 
ing the  Universe  a  less  mystery  than  before,  it  makes 
it  a  greater  mystery.  Creation  by  manufacture  is 
a  much  lower  thing  than  creation  by  evolution.  A 
man  can  put  together  a  machine;  but  he  cannot 
make  a  machine  develop  itself.  .  .  .  That  our  har- 
monious universe  once  existed  potentially  as  form- 
less diffused  matter,  and  has  slowly  grown  into  its 
present  organized  state,  is  a  far  more  astonishing 
fact  than  would  have  been  its  formation  after  the 
artificial  method  vulgarly  supposed."  * 

Free,  with  complete  freedom,  to  inquire  into 
anything,  man  is  as  completely  bound  —  bound  to 
abide  by  discernible  testimony.  Of  such  is  the 
spirit  of  science. 

^  "The  Nebular  Hypothesis,"  Westminster  Review,  July,  1858; 
see  Essays:  Scientific,  Political,  and  Speculative,  pp.  i,  55-56. 
(London,  1863.) 


6o      MODERN  THOUGHT    AND   THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

What,  now,  of  method?  Like  every  method, 
that  of  science  operates  negatively  no  less  than 
positively.  Its  exclusions  signify  not  a  little.  Dar- 
win has  presented  this  point  with  characteristic 
frankness. 

"By  collecting  all  facts  which  bore  in  any  way  on 
the  variation  of  animals  and  plants  under  domestica- 
tion and  nature,  some  light  might  perhaps  be  thrown 
on  the  whole  subject.  My  first  note-book  was 
opened  in  July,  1837.  I  worked  on  true  Baconian 
principles,  and,  without  any  theory  collected  facts  on 
a  wholesale  scale,  more  especially  with  respect  to 
domesticated  productions.  .  .  .  When  I  see  the 
list  of  books  of  all  kinds  which  I  read  and  abstracted, 
including  whole  series  of  Journals  and  Transactions, 
/  am  surprised  at  my  own  industry.  I  soon  per- 
ceived that  selection  was  the  keystone  of  man's  suc- 
cess in  making  useful  races  of  animals  and  plants. 
But  how  selection  could  be  applied  to  organisms  living 
in  a  state  of  nature  remained  for  some  time  a  mystery 
to  we."  ^ 

The  initial  requirement  of  scientific  method  might 
be  summed  in  the  phrase,  self-extrusion.  To  dis- 
cover what  the  object  is,  apart  entirely  from  faintest 
hint  about  what  it  might  be,  or  from  what  expecta- 

*  Life  and  Letters,  vol.  i,  p.  83;  the  italics  are  mine. 


THE    WATERS    OF   MERIBAH  6 1 

tion  might  make  it  —  this  is  a  law  of  the  Medes  and 
Persians.  "Nothing  happens,  it  comes."  So  the 
questions,  What  comes  ?  How  does  it  come  ?  How 
is  it  maintained  in  this  way  rather  than  that?  reach 
no  unclouded  solution  unless  the  observer  so  con- 
trives as  to  eliminate  admixture  of  self.  The  inde- 
pendence of  the  natural  order  forms  a  necessary 
postulate.  Hence  ■ —  and  here  lies  the  significance 
of  the  intimation  —  the  scheme  of  things  must  be 
taken  on  its  own  recognizances.  What  you  may 
think  of  it,  apart  from,  or  in  addition  to,  its  self- 
ordained  march,  counts  not  a  whit.  This  becomes 
very  obvious  in  the  region  of  experiment.  Little  as 
the  layman  may  appreciate  the  fact,  the  great  diffi- 
culty of  the  experimenter  is,  not  to  plan  experiments, 
but  to  bring  them  under  such  thorough  control  that 
he  can  dissolve  them  into"  their  simplest  concomitant 
elements.  For,  while  experiment  spells  interference, 
primary  analysis  implies  that  the  factors  work  thus 
and  so  without  human  interposition.  Science,  that 
is,  enforces  continual  self-criticism  as  the  prime 
requisite  of  a  reliable  method. 

Having  insured  this  negative  virtue,  positive 
procedure  is  in  order.  Everybody  knows  that 
scientific  research  circles  round  observation.  But 
observation  means  many  things.     For  instance,  it 


62       MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

reckons  >  with  first-hand  knowledge  only.  /  have 
seen  such  and  such,  /  have  noted  this  and  the  other, 
or,  as  a  vivid  colloquialism  puts  it,  'I  have  been 
there.'  What  artists  call  atmosphere  must  have 
been  evaporated.  In  satisfactory  observations  the 
objects  must  stand  out  clear-cut  and  raw  —  precise, 
unmistakable  results  alone  avail.  No  provision 
can  be  allowed  for  'almosts'  and  'possibles.'  If 
doubtful  matters  emerge,  and  especially  if  they 
persist,  the  aid  of  colleagues  must  be  invoked,  so 
that  personal  equation  may  disappear.  Here  we 
light  upon  another  characteristic.  Certainty  rests 
on  the  rock  of  caution.  Professions  of  ignorance, 
recognition  that,  for  the  present,  even  bare  facts 
stay  suh  judice,  form  constant  accompaniments  of 
eventual  success.  And  this  means,  further,  that 
the  real  investigator  loves  no  phenomenon  more 
than  another.  Before  the  tribunal  of  the  ascertain- 
able all  facts  have  permission  to  tell  their  own  tale 
in  their  own  way.  Science  discourages  attempts  to 
put  a  premium  upon  selection  of  evidence  to  bolster 
any  conclusion,  however  desirable.  It  were  almost 
superfluous  to  add  that,  when  we  pass  from  mere 
observation  to  that  intensified  species  of  observation 
known  as  experiment,  the  greater  instability  of  the 
conditions  calls  for  superlative  exercise  of  the  pre- 


THE    WATERS    OF    MERIBAH  63 

cautions  just  enumerated.  The  laboratory  has  re- 
placed Nature  to  a  large  extent,  but  only  because  it 
offers  a  short-cut  to  Nature.  It  enables  us  to  save 
time,  we  need  not  wait  for  the  leisurely  dame  to  act. 
It  places  us  in  position  to  repeat  phenomena  in- 
definitely, and  it  puts  within  reach  very  accurate 
estimates  of  cooperant  circumstances.  Again,  ap- 
paratus does  not  exist  for  the  purpose  of  construct- 
ing experiments,  as  the  layman  supposes  often.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  nothing  but  a  means  for  the  ex- 
tension of  our  senses,  as  by  the  seismograph;  for 
immense  increase  in  their  delicacy  of  discrimina- 
tion, as  by  the  microscope;  or  it  enables  them  to 
affect  us  in  strange  ways,  as  by  the  pseudoscope; 
or  it  insures  an  accuracy  unobtainable  otherwise,  as 
by  instruments  for  automatic  registration.  More- 
over, laboratory  methods  and  equipment  help  us  to 
isolate  and  examine  special  constituents  of  a  process, 
to  plot  the  factors  of  a  phenomenon,  as  it  were,  and 
thus  to  obtain  mastery,  piecemeal,  over  its  ramified 
detail.  In  total  effect,  then,  experiment  originates 
schemes  for  overcoming  and  combating  human 
limitations,  physical  and  psychological.  But  its 
veritable  revelations  are  received  under  the  same 
stringent  tests  that  rule  direct  contact  with  Nature, 
nay,  under  conditions  even  more  stringent,  because 
amenable  to  the  forethought  of  control. 


64      MODERN   THOUGHT    AND  THE   CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

The  facts  garnered  under  these  safeguards,  in- 
terpretation follows.  Here  we  unveil  another  pro- 
cedure, one  of  analysis  and  classification  principally. 
As  before,  the  phenomena  dictate.  That  is,  the 
assembled  data  raise  difficulties  of  identity,  simi- 
larity, difference,  and  contrariety;  and  the  crucial 
measures  of  combination  into  groups  demand  atten- 
tion. These  hazardous  excursions  through  the 
accumulated  records  serve  often  to  disclose  dis- 
crepancies, or  even  to  evoke  factors  which  had 
escaped  previous  notice.  To  scientific  method  even 
the  slightest  divergence  acts  as  a  danger-signal.  The 
cry  is,  'Back  to  the  facts,'  or  the  query  is  raised, 
'What  strange  thing  are  they  telling  us  now  about 
themselves?'  More  than  likely,  the  situation  will 
call  for  a  minute  analysis.  It  may  be  necessary  to 
proceed  from  the  complex,  supposed  simple,  to  the 
simpler  still,  in  order  to  find  how  disturbance  origi- 
nates, what  it  betokens.  This  regress,  like  the 
difficulty  of  dissolving  experiments,  constitutes  one 
of  the  most  exacting  practical  problems  that  scien- 
tific method  has  to  face.  But,  difficulty  or  no 
difficulty,  the  old  fidelity  to  fact,  the  precision,  the 
caution,  are  to  be  maintained  only  with  sterner 
rigour. 

By  consistent  use  of  this  method,  the  scientific 


THE    WATERS    OF    MERIBAH  65 

consciousness  reaches  definite  results.  The  common 
phrase  'natural  law'  labels  one  kind  of  inference; 
the  less  familiar,  and  often  misunderstood,  term 
'hypothesis'  proclaims  another.  At  present,  scien- 
tific inquirers  disagree  about  the  nature  of  '  law,' 
more  particularly  with  regard  to  objective  neces- 
sity or  validity,  and  I  cannot  enter  upon  the  grounds 
of  quarrel  here.  Suffice  it  to  say,  they  involve  a  very 
intricate  problem  beyond  the  competence  of  science, 
and  that  two  views,  the  'materialistic'  or  'realist,' 
and  the  '  agnostic,'  receive  support.  The  older  con- 
tention appears  plainly  in  the  following  statement :  — 

"A  Force  is  a  Power  which  initiates  or  accelerates 
aggregative  motion,  while  it  resists  or  retards  sepa- 
rative motion,  in  two  or  more  particles  of  ponder- 
able matter  (and  possibly  also  of  the  ethereal 
medium) . 

"All  particles  possess  the  Power  of  attracting  one 
another  —  in  other  words,  of  setting  up  mutually 
aggregative  motion  —  unless  prevented  by  some 
other  Power  of  an  opposite  nature.  Thus  a  body 
suspended  freely  in  the  air  is  attracted  towards  the 
earth  by  the  Force  (or  aggregative  Power)  known  as 
Gravitation.  A  piece  of  sugar,  held  close  over  a 
cup  of  tea,  attracts  into  itself  the  water  of  the  tea- 
cup, by  the  Force  (or  aggregative  Power)  known  as 
Capillarity.  A  spoon  left  in  tea  grounds  or  a  foot 
planted   on   the  moist   sand   similarly   attracts  the 


66      MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

neighbouring  drops.  A  piece  of  iron  or  coal  ex- 
posed to  free  oxygen  (each  at  a  certain  fixed  tempera- 
ture) attracts  the  particles  of  oxygen  by  the  Force 
known  as  Chemical  Affinity.  In  every  case  there 
must  be  an  absence  of  counteracting  Energies  (or 
separative  Powers)  sufficient  to  prevent  the  union 
of  the  particles:  .  .  .  every  particle  attracts  every 
other  particle  in  some  one  of  various  ways,  unless 
prevented  by  other  Powers."  * 

Evidently,  Allen  laboured  under  the  impression 
that  'law'  existed  in  an  external  world,  and  there- 
fore that  it  could  or  did  lead  man  into  the  precincts 
of  essential  reality.  That  is,  natural  law  might  be 
viewed  as  a  'thing'  governing  other  'things'  and, 
by  consequence,  as  offering  a  key  to  the  constitution 
of  being.  On  this  interpretation,  nature  and  mech- 
anism become  convertible  terms,  for  we  know  causes 
in  substantial  existence.  On  the  contrary,  many 
contemporary  leaders  affirm  that  a  'natural  law' 
cannot  count  for  more  than  a  symbol. 

"A  natural  law,  therefore,  is  not  implied  in  the 
conformity  of  the  behaviour  of  the  energies,  but  this 
conformity  is  rather  conditioned  by  the  uniformity 
of  our  modes  of  conception  and  is  also  partly  a 
matter  of  good  fortune."  ^ 

'  Force  and  Energy,  a  Theory  of  Dynamics,  Grant  Allen,  pp.  5-6. 
^  Popular  Scientific  Lectures,  Ernst  Mach,  p.  175  (Eng.  trans., 
Chicago,  1895). 


THE    WATERS    OF    MERIBAH  67 

"All  principles  single  out,  more  or  less  arbitrarily, 
now  this  aspect,  now  that  aspect,  of  the  same  facts, 
and  contain  an  abstract  summarized  rule  for  the  re- 
figurement  of  the  facts  in  thought.  .  .  .  Cause  and 
effect,  therefore,  are  things  of  thought,  having  an 
economical  office.  ...  In  nature  there  is  no  law 
of  refraction,  only  different  cases  of  refraction.  The 
law  of  refraction  is  a  concise  compendious  rule, 
devised  by  us  for  the  mental  reconstruction  of  a 
fact,  and  only  for  its  reconstruction  in  part,  that  is, 
on  its  geometrical  side."  ^ 

Summarily  put,  these  positions  imply  that  we 
provide  '  laws  of  nature '  by  formulating  uniformities 
of  sense-perception.  No  'law'  is  poised  'out  there.' 
Our  'awareness'  is  solely  of  successions  and  co- 
existences of  relations  in  a  universal  motion.  If  we 
agree,  as  we  may  easily,  that  science  furnishes  no 
ground-plan  of  the  foundations  of  knowledge,  but 
gifts  simply  a  procedure  for  the  dispersion  of  ig- 
norance, we  shall  have  mediated  between  the  two 
views  to  some  extent.  For,  after  all,  a  law,  as  un- 
derstood in  both,  amounts  to  a  generalized  statement 
of  observed  uniformities,  nothing  more.  And,  as 
the  actual  observations  fall  short  of  totaHty,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case  the  conclusion  imposes  probability 

1  The  Science  0/  Mechanics,  Ernst  Mach,  pp.  83-84,  485-4S6 
(Eng.  trans.,  2d  ed.). 


68       MODERN    THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS    IN    BELIEF 

in  various  degrees.  The  instant  we  travel  beyond 
this  record,  we  quit  the  region  of  scientific  stability. 
Again,  hypotheses  must  be  described  as  reflective 
extensions  of  ascertained  fact.^  A  hypothesis  forms 
the  antecedent  of  any  judgement  which  hangs  upon 
an  'if.'  The  consequent  must  needs  be  constructed 
from  phenomena  accessible  to  practical  observa- 
tion. For  instance,  I  find  myself  unable  to  account 
for  certain  phenomena  in  the  dispersion  of  light. 
Then,  on  the  basis  of  careful  observation,  I  declare, 
*//  a  molecule  be  a  hea\7  mass,  connected  by  mass- 
less  springs  with  a  massless  shell,  then  these  observed 
phenomena  come  within  the  bounds  of  the  explicable.' 
But  the  relative  credibility  of  the  antecedent  hy- 
pothesis depends  upon  its  relation  to  the  consequent, 
and  this,  once  more,  is  built  from  the  facts  encoun- 
tered by  me  in  the  routine  of  observation.  Evi- 
dently, then,  the  results  of  scientific  method,  whether 
laws  or  hypotheses,  fall  to  be  classed  as  interpreta- 
tions of  his  experiences  by  a  being  for  whom  they 
occur  thus  and  not  otherwise.  In  short,  they  belong 
to  the  intellectual  realm,  liberated  as  completely  as 
may  be  from  every  reference  to  desire  (emotion)  and 
will  (wish). 

^  Cf.   Modern  Electrical  Theory,   Norman  Robert  Campbell, 
especially  p.  231. 


THE    WATERS    OF    MERIBAH  69 

Finally,  what  consequences  emerge,  as  concerns 
the  present  subject?  They  present  themselves  in 
two  guises  —  practical  and  theoretical.  On  the 
practical  side,  an  impassable  gulf  separates  the 
temper  of  science  from  the  temperament  of  religion. 
By  a  steadfast  instinct,  the  religious  man  refers  in- 
variably to  a  'cause,'  or  causes,  capable  of  explain- 
ing much  more  than  stands  in  scientific  question  as 
a  usual  rule.  By  acquired  discipline  the  investigator 
of  nature  either  rejoins,  '  I  cannot  understand  what 
you  mean,'  or  answers,  with  decision,  'I  find  no  trace 
of  any  such  cause  amid  the  phenomena  I  have  ob- 
served.' In  other  words,  for  him  the  phenomena 
explain  themselves  from  within,  and,  beyond  this, 
no  opinion  can  be  passed  upon  them;  he  has  been 
cured  completely  of  — 

"  that  insomnia  which  is  God." 
When  Galileo's  judges  decided  that  — 

"The  doctrine  that  the  earth  is  neither  the  centre 
of  the  universe  nor  immovable,  but  moves  even 
with  a  daily  rotation,  is  absurd,  and  both  philosoph- 
ically and  theologically  false,  and  at  the  least  an 
error  of  faith,"  ^ 

their   evidence   consisted   of   preconceived    dogmas 
(proven  untrue  since),  and  of  an  appeal  to  faith, 

^  Congregation  of  22d  June,  1633. 


70       MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE  CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

without  pertinence  in  the  ranges  of  physical  re- 
search. Nothing  could  well  seem  further  removed 
from  their  method  than,  for  example,  the  astro- 
physical  enquiries  of  the  contemporary  astronomer. 
And,  if  the  practical  test  be  applied,  the  result  leaves 
no  room  for  doubt.  The  propositions  of  the  Prel- 
ates and  Cardinals  do  not  work;  those,  say,  of  the 
Director  of  Lick  Observatory  do.  Nevertheless, 
religion  and  science  remain  integral  to  life  equally; 
therefore  a  large  discrepancy  must  lie  secreted 
somewhere. 

When  we  uncover  the  theoretical  consequences, 
the  precise  nature  of  the  situation  begins  to  loom  up. 
The  conjunct  enquiries  of  the  sciences  converge  on 
the  decision  that  the  universe  is  a  single,  if  extraordi- 
narily ramified,  system  of  energy.  At  all  events,  we 
gather  this  inference  from  observation  and  experi- 
ment, no  matter  in  what  field.  Not  only  so,  we  can 
and  do  deduce  it  from  the  most  stable  and  authentic 
principle  yet  compassed  by  the  human  mind,  —  the 
dynamical  generalization,  outlined  by  Newton,  and 
clinched  since,  in  numerous  unanticipated  ways,  by 
many  others.  Moreover,  energy  provides  an  ulti- 
mate to  which  everything  else  may  be  reduced. 
Starting,  then,  from  this  base-line  (the  most  care- 
fully and  accurately  surveyed  that  we  have,  remem- 


THE    WATERS    OF   MERIBAH  7 1 

ber),  What  follows?  Adapting  an  ancient  affirma- 
tion, the  final  judgement  formulates  itself  thus:  the 
heavens  declare  the  glory  of  Newton  and  Kirchhoff, 
the  earth  showeth  the  handiwork  of  Helmholtz  and 
Darwin.  One  epitome  of  the  cosmos  goes  glimmer- 
ing, another  illuminates  the  firmament,  full-orbed. 

At  this  late  day  it  were  superfluous  to  point  out 
that  these  doctrines  are  not  synonymous  with  ma- 
terialism, for  materiaHsm  has  been  relegated  to  the 
bottomless  Hmbo  of  epistemological  discards.  Nev- 
ertheless, they  intimate,  with  no  uncertain  sound, 
that  nature  presents  itself  as  a  self-explanatory 
totaHty.  Even  in  the  tenuous  region  of  mind, 
natural  causes  are  found  to  suffice  for  natural 
effects.  As  Huxley  said,  science  means  "  the  gradual 
banishment  from  all  regions  of  human  thought  of 
what  we  call  spirit  and  spontaneity."  ^  When 
European  culture  had  accustomed  itself  to  the 
Copernican  astronomy,  no  one  objected  to  the  sub- 
stitution of  mechanical  law  for  supernatural  design, 
so  far  as  the  stars  in  their  courses  were  concerned. 
And  the  same  story,  substantially,  can  be  related 
about  the  direful  discoveries  of  geology  and  biology 
in  the  course  of  last  century.     The  folk  who  assev- 

"  •  On  the  Physical  Basis  of  Life,  Collecicd  Works,  vol.  i,  p.  159 
(London,  1893). 


72       MODERN  THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

erated  that  "the  principle  of  natural  selection  con- 
tradicted the  revealed  relation  of  creation  to  its 
Creator,"  laid  Darwin  at  Lyell's  side  in  the  hallowed 
fane  twenty-two  years  later.  And,  in  our  own 
persons,  a  similar  movement  has  operated  to  vaster 
issues  after  another  lapse  of  a  quarter  century. 
Educated  men,  at  least,  agree  to  accept  natural 
explanations,  not  only  for  foreign  objects  in  the 
stellar  offing,  but,  through  the  offices  of  chemistry, 
physiology,  and  biology,  for  the  nearest  intimacies 
of  their  own  flesh.  Nay,  not  content  with  these 
triumphs,  science  has  essayed  a  bolder  step.  The 
evolution  hypothesis  has  laid  hold  upon  the  dis- 
tinctively spiritual  organization.  Psychology,  for 
instance,  and  anthropology  in  its  festooned  rami- 
fications, proceed  upon  a  naturalistic  basis  no  less 
confidently  than  the  sciences  of  'external'  nature. 
Huxley's  affirmation,  if  a  statement  of  fact  in  his 
day,  bears  the  semblance  of  a  prophecy  to  us.  For, 
materialism,  thrust  from  the  front  door  of  the 
scientific  edifice  with  mighty  clangour,  has  been 
succeeded  by  a  new  tenant,  smuggled  in  quietly  at 
a  side  entrance  —  one  like-minded,  if  less  disagree- 
able.    Naturalism  is  in  occupancy. 

Now  Naturalism  pivots  fundamentally  upon  the 
doctrine  of  evolution,   nay,   upon  the  doctrine  of 


THE    WATERS    OF    MERIBAH  73 

evolution  interpreted  in  one  way,  and  therefore 
committed  to  the  exclusion  of  certain  competitive 
views.  Drawn  synoptically,  the  position  may  be 
outlined  thus:  the  most  complex  phenomena  of 
nature  are  reducible  to  simpler,  these  to  stiU  simpler, 
until,  at  length,  one  arrives  at  bed-rock  in  determina- 
tions of  motion,  capable  of  synthesis  and  retention 
in  mathematical  formulae.     For  psychology,  — 

''The  soul  and  its  faculties,  the  great  entity  and 
the  small  entities,  disappear,  and  we  have  to  do 
only  with  internal  events,  which  as  sensations  and 
mental  images  translate  physical  events,  or  which, 
as  ideas,  movements,  volition  and  desire,  are  trans- 
lated into  the  physical  events.  .  .  .  Psychology  is 
connected  again  with  the  laws  of  life  and  with  its 
mechanism."  ^ 

For  the  sciences  to  which  physiology  is  basal,  the 
most  careful  investigators  — 

"see  no  grounds  for  accepting  a  vitalistic  principle 
that  is  not  a  physico-causal  one."  ^ 

Thus,  — 

"when  we  attempt  to  think  out  what  the  organiza- 
tion is,  we  almost  unavoidably  think  of  it  as  a  struc- 
ture having  the  properties  of  a  machine,  and  working 

*  German  Psychology  of  To-Day,  Th.  Ribot,  p.  8. 
'  Regeneration,  Thomas  Hunt  Morgan,  p.  287. 


74       MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

in  the  way  in  which  we  are  accustomed  to  think  of 
machines  as  working."  * 

Again,  — 

"During  the  last  twenty  years  the  relation  between 
the  transformation  of  matter  and  energy  has  played 
a  prominent  part  in  physiological  research.  .  .  . 
Robert  Mayer  and  Helmholtz  announced  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  conservation  of  energy  and  regarded  its 
applicability  to  the  human  organism  as  an  axiom. 
Recent  investigation  has  done  notable  service  in 
proving  this  axiom  with  certainty.  It  was  demon- 
strated, in  the  case  of  animals  at  rest,  that  the  heat 
given  out  was  exactly  equal  to  that  of  the  combus- 
tion of  the  substances  assimilated  in  the  body 
(Rubner).  .  .  .  After  having  resolved  the  simpler 
problem  of  determining  the  transformation  of 
energy  in  the  resting  body,  the  more  difficult  task 
of  measuring  this  transformation  during  work  was 
undertaken.  By  modification  of  the  above-indicated 
methods  one  is  now  able  to  find  out  precisely  how 
much  nourishment  the  animal  organism  must  use 
if  it  is  to  perform  a  definite  amount  of  mechanical 
labour. 

"  American  investigators,  Atwater,  Benedict,  and 
their  fellow-workers,  have  recently,  in  a  very  complete 
way,  followed  the  transformation  of  matter  and 
energy  in  man,  under  various  conditions  of  nourish- 
ment, and  occupation.    The  respiratory  calorimeter 

^  Regeneration,  Thomas  Hunt  Morgan,  p.  281. 


THE    WATERS    OF    MERIBAH  yr 

which  they  constructed  is  the  most  perfect  machine 
that  has  hitherto  been  devised  for  the  study  of  the 
transformation  of  matter  and  energy  in  hving  animals. 
With  these  investigations  concerning  the  amount 
of  matter  and  force  needed  by  man  and  beast  in 
various  work,  together  with  the  study  of  the  most 
efficient  foods,  the  physiology  of  nutrition  enters 
into  hygienic  and  sociological  questions  of  the  great- 
est significance."  ^ 

Or,  as  our  foremost  American  authority,  Professor 
Jacques  Loeb,  holds,  instincts  have  developed  out 
of  reflexes,  thinking  out  of  instincts;  thus,  as  bio- 
chemical research  seems  to  prophesy,  the  whole 
problem  of  human  thought  will  be  explained  finally 
in  terms  of  physical  chemistry. 

And  so  the  incomplexity  —  by  comparison  —  of 
chemistry  and  physics  is  reached,  and  we  find  our- 
selves dominated  thoroughly  by  the  mechanical  the- 
ory, the  most  abstract,  and  therefore  the  most  work- 
able and  accurate,  of  all  human  generalizations. 
Consequently,  hi  the  last  analysis,  every  research 
yields  to  a  resolution  "als  Mechanik  der  Atome."^ 
Throughout  the  entire   welter   of  phenomena,   this 

*  The  International  Quarterly,  vol.  xii,  No.  2,  pp.  327-328, 
Nathan  Zunz  {The  Progress  of  Physiology). 

^  Cf.  Die  Willenshandlung,  Hugo  Munsterberg,  p.  9,  and 
passim. 


76       MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

account  suflfices,  whatever  our  religious  views;  and  we 
abide  by  it  implicitly  in  practical  affairs,  —  in  en- 
gineering, in  dietetics,  in  the  regulation  of  public 
health,  in  domestic  plumbing,  and  so  on.  The  me- 
chanical theory  is  over  all  our  works.  The  uniformity 
of  nature,  widening  ever  as  research  blazes  its  labori- 
ous trail,  seizes  fresh  phenomena  and  affords  such 
explanation  as  is  attainable  under  the  inexorable 
circumstances.  For  our  present  subject,  the  gravity 
of  the  conclusion  can  scarcely  be  exaggerated,  be- 
cause, if  it  hold,  '  Christian  truth,'  in  any  con- 
ventional codification  of  it,  has  fallen  upon 
irremediable  bankruptcy. 

Nakedly  set  forth,  the  theory  comes  to  this.  Ob- 
servation and  experiment,  as  conducted  under  rigid 
conditions  in  the  natural  sciences,  combine  to  show 
that  the  universe  is  to  be  adjudged  unalterably  a  mech- 
anism. The  human  body,  on  the  current  reading 
of  evolution,  cannot  be  regarded  as  other  than  a  bit 
of  this  mechanism,  while  consciousness  sinks  to  the 
level  of  an  '  epiphenomenon,'  a  side  issue,  of  the 
nervous  system.  So  all  the  activities,  segregated 
from  the  purely  physical  world  traditionally,  under 
the  term  'self -consciousness,'  take  their  places  among 
the  other  facts  of  nature.  No  break  asserts  its 
presence.    This  granted,  every  vesdge  of  '  Christian 


THE    WATERS    OF    MERIBAH  77 

truth '  disappears,  a  more  completely  baseless  fabric 
of  a  dream  never  sprang  from  fond,  unchastened 
imagination.  Even  if  aspiration  be  allowed  some 
free  play,  as  a  kind  of  charity,  the  utmost  comfort 
available  to  ease  the  sombre  burden  of  life  simmers 
down  to  that  neo-Stoicism  taught  openly  now  in 
several  quarters. 

"Brief  and  powerless  is  man's  life;  on  him  and 
all  his  race  the  slow  sure  doom  falls  pitiless  and  dark. 
Blind  to  good  and  evil,  reckless  of  destruction,  om- 
nipotent matter  rolls  on  its  relentless  way;  for  Man, 
condemned  to-day  to  lose  his  dearest,  to-morrow 
himself  to  pass  through  the  gate  of  darkness,  it 
remains  only  to  cherish,  ere  yet  the  blow  falls,  the 
lofty  thoughts  that  ennoble  his  little  day;  disdaining 
the  coward  terrors  of  the  slave  of  Fate,  to  worship  at 
the  shrine  that  his  own  hands  have  built;  undis- 
mayed by  the  empire  of  chance,  to  preserve  a  mind 
free  from  the  wanton  tyranny  that  rules  his  outward 
life;  proudly  defiant  of  the  irresistible  forces  that 
tolerate,  for  a  moment,  his  knowledge  and  his  con- 
demnation, to  sustain  alone,  a  weary  but  unyielding 
Atlas,  the  world  that  his  own  ideals  have  fashioned 
despite  the  trampling  march  of  unconscious  power."  ^ 

At  the  moment,  it  is  none  of  my  affair  to  attempt 
adjudication  upon  the  adequacy,  much  less  the  truth, 

*  Ideals  of  Science  and  Faith,  p.  169,  Hon.  Bertrand  Russell 
{An  Ethical  Approach);   edited  by  the  Rev.  J.  E.  Hand. 


78       MODERN  THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN    BELIEF 

of  these  systematic  inferences.  Rather,  my  point 
is  taken  thus:  they  proclaim  a  crisis  that  admits  of 
no  half-measures,  of  no  paltering  in  any  shape. 
Confronted  thus,  as  we  are,  it  were  worse  than  useless 
to  rehearse  hoary  propositions  formulated  at  a  time 
when  other  possibilities  engaged  mankind;  it  were 
mere  folly  to  fold  one's  hands,  so  to  speak,  and  indulge 
a  soporific  hope  that,  somehow,  all  may  end  well. 
These  things  do  not  lie  on  the  lap  of  the  gods,  they 
happen  to  be  human  issues,  amenable  to  human 
influences,  and  to  none  other.  As  a  matter  of  plain 
fact  (forgive  me  for  reminding  you  once  more), 
western  civilization  accepts  the  concatenation  of 
phenomena,  whence  such  views  have  precipitated, 
at  every  turn  in  practical  life.  Your  railroads  and 
trolley  cars,  your  telegraphs  and  telephones,  your 
hospitals  and  laboratories,  in  brief,  the  thousand 
things  that  constitute  the  very  possibility  of  all  that 
you  term  civilization,  were  created  by  the  devotion  of 
many  who,  in  loyalty  to  their  own  insight,  feel  con- 
strained to  these  positions.  Moreover,  as  concerns 
knowledge  itself,  on  the  theoretical  side,  the  average 
man  agrees  to-day  that  the  astronomer  and  physicist, 
the  chemist  and  physiologist,  the  biologist  and  physi- 
cian, the  psychologist  and  philologist,  have  earned 
the  right  to  speak  with  authority.     The  old-time 


THE   WATERS   OF   MERIBAH  79 

scribes  have  met  their  Waterloo,  as  many  recognize, 
if  in  dazed  fashion.  Or,  to  put  the  case  otherwise, 
science  has  become  such  an  enormous  power  in  the 
most  ordinary  affairs  of  existence,  and  no  less  in  the 
circumambient  perspective  wherein  we  set  the  import 
of  our  lives,  that  it  were  fatuity  to  suppose  ourselves 
able  to  disregard  even  its  extremest  pronouncements. 
To  adopt  its  advice  when  useful  or  pleasant,  to  pass 
it  by  on  the  other  side  when  it  constrains  or  seems 
distasteful,  is  a  course  closed  to  the  reflective  mind. 
That  numbers  have  availed  themselves  of  this  sub- 
terfuge during  the  past  generation  throws  no  lustre 
on  human  perspicacity.  That  an  evasion  so  obvious 
can  continue,  the  trend  of  the  intellectual  events 
from  day  to  day  shows,  decisively,  to  be  out  of  the 
reckoning.  To  use  a  homely  phrase,  'you  can't  eat 
your  cake  and  have  it.'  Either  you  must  capitulate 
at  discretion  eventually,  or  you  must  be  prepared 
to  reconsider,  de  novo,  the  place  of  religion  in  ex- 
perience. The  naive  simplicity  of  orthodox  belief, 
so  called,  has  gone  beyond  recovery.  Disaster  or 
not,  mental  innocence  has  eaten  of  the  tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil  at  the  hands  of  science. 
This,  at  a  minimum,  stands  beyond  question. 
Whether,  on  the  other  side,  naive  heterodoxy  has 
proven  itself  a  defensible  consummation  is  an  entirely 


8o      MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

different  affair.  In  any  event,  it  serves  itself  now 
as  a  philosophy  of  the  universe;  despite  its  multi- 
plied placards,  erected  in  warning  against  'metaphys- 
ical quagmires,'  it  parades,  not  merely  as  a  meta- 
physic,  but  as  a  metaphysic  of  a  highly  dogmatic  type. 
We  may  say,  therefore,  "Thou  hast  appealed  unto 
Caesar;  unto  Caesar  shalt  thou  go."  *  But,  mean- 
time, this  appeal  releases  nobody  from  the  obligation 
to  recognize  the  immense  change  frankly,  to  become 
familiar  with  its  basis,  factors,  and  logic. 

*  Acts  XXV.  12. 


LECTURE   III 

BREACHES  OF  THE   HOUSE 

Even  if  he  admit  the  validity  of  scientific 
method,  and  appreciate  the  sweep  of  the  scientific 
view  of  the  universe,  the  dogmatic  Christian  may 
yet  exclaim,  "  Our  withers  are  unwrung ! "  Un- 
doubtedly, he  may  allege  that  the  natural  sciences, 
while  paramount  in  affairs  pertaining  to  the  physical 
world  in  its  widest  scope,  cannot  deal  with  spiritual 
life.  He  may  remind  himself  that  affection,  and 
devotion,  and  worship  elude  mathematical  formula?, 
are  intractable  to  causal  relationship,  and,  more 
than  likely,  evade  the  grasp  of  mechanical,  chemical, 
or  physiological  characterizations.  Nay,  as  matter 
of  record,  religion  has  continued  to  maintain  itself 
inviolable  against  the  assaults,  say,  of  materialism 
in  the  mid-nineteenth  century,  by  a  more  or  less 
conscious  affirmation  of  this  very  argument.  The 
average  man  cannot  be  expected  to  realize  that  the 
weapon  cuts  both  ways,  that  it  is  as  dangerous  to 
the  user,  religion,  as  to  the  intellectual  constructions 
attacked.     Therefore  we  may  admit  tli2  plea  for  the 

G  &L 


82        MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

moment.  But,  when  one  comes  to  historico-critical 
research  and  its  conclusions,  no  such  extenuations 
avail.  History  and  criticism  stand  on  the  same 
plane  with  religion.  They  deal  with  self-conscious- 
ness, proceed  from  it.  In  short,  the  breaches  they 
effect  are  "breaches  of  the  house,"  not  merely  devas- 
tations, perilous,  maybe,  but  perilous  afar.  Here, 
then,  we  must  anticipate  an  internal  assault,  one  from 
which  no  easy  way  of  escape  offers.  If  science 
threaten,  history  and  criticism  seem  in  a  position 
to  command. 

II.    The  Historico-Critical  Movement 

As  its  title  implies,  the  historico-critical  movement 
belongs  to  that  most  modem  group  of  investigations 
known  generally  by  the  name  '  human '  sciences. 
From  the  earliest  times  till  within  recent  years,  the 
activities  typical  of  mankind  were  sequestered  from 
exact  enquiry.  "  Order,  Heaven's  first  law,"  appeared 
to  be  set  at  defiance  by  the  multifarious  chances  of 
society,  morals,  art,  and  religion.  Myth,  legend, 
and  marvel  found  congenial  environment  here,  be- 
cause they  alone  sufficed  to  bridge  yawning  gaps; 
while  supposition,  no  matter  how  far-fetched,  did 
duty  for  objective  fact  as  concerned  phenomena 
so  rooted  in  the  recesses  of  psychological  peculiarity 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  83 

that  the  resources  of  intelligence  were  foiled.  Thus 
mystery  cloaked  human  doings  on  all  sides,  and  even 
the  most  penetrating  scientific  minds  were  nowise 
loath  to  admit  that  the  universe  was  dual  —  a  natural 
order  expressing  itself  without  variableness  or  shadow 
of  turning,  and  an  inward  spirit,  flashing  forth  with 
caprices  so  strange  that  suprahuman  intervention 
became  a  regnant  postulate.^  But,  in  the  wane 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  several  thinkers,  especially 
in  Germany,  began  to  suspect  that  diligent  study 
of  the  past  might  "  lead  into  the  council  chamber  of 
fate,"  to  use  the  words  of  Herder,  in  whose  seminal 
works,  "Folk  Songs,"  "Ideas  on  the  Philosophy 
of  History  of  Mankind,"  and  "God,  Friendly  Con- 
versations," this  suspicion  crystallized  into  something 
like  system.  Hegel,  the  only  philosopher  whom 
modem  Europe  can  place  beside  the  masters  of 
those  who  know,  —  Plato,  Aristotle,  and  Spinoza,  — 
articulated  Herder's  suggestions,  and,  since  his  death, 
in  1 83 1,  thanks  mainly  to  his  epoch-making  fer- 
mentum  cognitionis,  supplemented  by  that  of  Comte 
in  France,  an  extensive  group  of  expert  investigations 
has  concentrated  upon  the  elusive  theme.  Anthro- 
pology, archeology,  philology,  in  their  numerous 
ramifications,    the   historical   disciplines,    and    allied 

'  One  of  my  own  teachers,  the  late  Lord  Kelvin,  countenanced 
this  position. 


84       MODERN   THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN    BELIEF 

studies  have  torn  the  veil  of  mythology  from  man's 
past,  and  taught  us  to  regard  his  present  as  part  of 
a  vast  self-developing  order.  We  have  learned  that 
all  articulated  knowledge  is  science,  that  operative 
principles  can  be  discovered,  not  merely  in  the  physi- 
cal universe,  but  even  in  the  most  unlikely  corners 
of  the  psychological  realm.  In  a  word,  the  trans- 
formation of  possible  views  concerning  humanity 
is  almost  more  profound  than  the  parallel  reversal 
in  the  natural  sciences. 

The  barest  description  of  a  field  so  immense  is 
quite  beyond  my  competence.  It  may  help,  however, 
if  I  attempt  to  illustrate  the  general  process  by  refer- 
ence to  a  single  case  with  which,  in  all  likelihood, 
you  possess  some  acquaintance  —  I  mean  the  civili- 
zation of  ancient  Greece. 

When  the  foremost  classical  scholars  of  the  day 
were  schoolboys,  Greece  enjoyed  a  comparatively 
brief  history,  as  history  counts  now.  Moreover, 
she  seemed  isolated  in  exceptional  fashion,  and  her 
sudden  cultural  efflorescence  was  a  perennial  wonder. 
The  Homeric  poems  were  conceived,  and  rightly, 
as  legends  in  romantic  form,  dating  back  probably 
between  the  eleventh  and  eighth  centuries  B.C. 
Full  of  picturesque  traditions  and  enthralling  story, 
even  their  most  vivid  descriptions  could  not  be  verified 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  85 

historically.  As  products  of  poetic  imagination  they 
were  magnificent,  unparalleled;  as  reminiscences  of 
an  actual  civilization  they  implied  little,  and  served 
only  to  engender  speculations  impossible  to  check. 
Indeed  these  speculations  flourished  luxuriantly. 
But,  after  1870,  Greece  gained  even  more  reality 
than  she  had  possessed  hitherto.  The  discoveries 
of  the  temple  and  halls  of  Olympia,  by  Curtius  and 
his  colleagues,  injected  fresh  life  into  the  glorious  fifth 
century.  At  Pergamon  Conze  uncovered  the  colossal 
work,  such  as  the  wonderful  altar,  characteristic 
of  Hellenic  genius  after  Alexander  the  Great.  Mean- 
while, almost  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  the  mythical 
Greece  of  Homeric  legend  was  set  before  an  astonished 
world.  From  1870  to  1885  the  remarkable  and  mani- 
fold discoveries  of  Schliemann,  at  Hissarlik,  Mycenae, 
Orchomenos,  and  Tiryns  successively,  revealed  the 
existence  of  a  complex  prehistoric  culture,  ante- 
dating the  Homeric  poems  by  four  centuries  or  more. 
While  it  may  be  doubted  whether  Schliemann  re- 
covered the  grave  of  Agamenmon  and  the  treasure 
of  Priam,  or  explored  the  house  of  Atreus,  it  is  true 
that  he  bared  the  palaces  of  Homeric  rulers,  and 
that  he  compelled  the  reconsideration  of  the  course 
of  civilization  in  what  was  to  become  '  Greece.'  In 
any  event,  the  end  was  not  yet.     The  French  ex- 


86      MODERN    THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN    BELIEF 

cavations  at  Delphi,  the  Jerusalem  of  Greece,  those 
of  the  Americans  at  the  Argive  Heraeum,  the  met- 
ropolitan shrine  of  pre-Homeric  times,  served  to 
whet  expectation,  to  dissipate  some  difficulties,  and 
to  create  others.     Nor  is  this  all. 

Writing  about  twenty-five  years  ago,  in  full  ac- 
quaintance with  Schliemann's  larger  results,  one  of 
the  most  judicious  historians  of  Greece  said :  — 

"Another  example  of  the  influence  of  imagination 
on  the  form  assumed  by  early  history  is  furnished 
by  the  personality  of  Minos.  In  Homer  he  is  a  son 
of  Zeus.  .  .  .  Hesiod  makes  him  rule  with  the  sceptre 
of  Zeus  over  many  men  dwelling  around  him.  .  .  . 
Herodotus  makes  Minos  rule  over  the  islanders.  .  .  . 
According  to  Thucydides,  Minos  was  the  first  king 
who  possessed  a  fleet  of  war.  .  .  .  We  hold,  on  the 
contrary,  that  Minos  is  a  mythical  personage,  like 
Perseus  and  Heracles,  and  that  the  actions  which 
are  ascribed  to  him  as  history  are  nothing  but  a 
gradual  accretion  of  legendary  embellishments.  We 
might  just  as  well  look  upon  his  colleague  JEsicus  as 
a  historical  personage,  and  commend  his  mild  rule 
over  his  people."  ^ 

Yet,  as  the  first  months  of  the  twentieth 
century    dawned,   an    English    investigator^  found, 

*  History  of  Greece,  Adolph  Holm,  vol.  i,  pp.  49-50  (Eng.  trans.). 
^  Dr.  Arthur  J.  Evans,  Keeper  of  the  Ashmolean  Museum, 
Oxford. 


BREACHES    OF   THE   HOUSE  87 

in  Crete,  marvellous  evidences  of  a  great  empire, 
based  on  sea  power,  over  which  this  same  Minos 
ruled.^  The  Homeric  tradition,  that  Minos 
lived  before  Agamemnon,  like  some  of  the  other 
traditions  mentioned  by  Holm,  received  unforeseen 
confirmation.  The  palace  at  Knossos,  let  alone 
numerous  other  discoveries,  at  Zakro,  Palaikastos, 
Prasses,  Mount  Ida,  Mount  Dicta,  and  Vapheio  near 
Sparta,  raise  problems  of  the  most  acute  interest, 
bring  much  prehistoric  mystery  to  the  light  of  open 
day,  and  make  it  possible  to  initiate  enquiry  into 
what  may  come  to  be  termed  '^^gean'  civiHzation. 
As  with  Schliemann,  so  h'ere,  it  may  not  be  true 
that  Dr.  Evans  has  found  the  storied  Labyrinth 
and  tracked  the  awful  Minotaur  to  his  familiar 
haunts,  or  wandered  in  the  palace  of  Alcinous.  But 
he  may  have  set  back  a  civilization  to  which  "we 
are  justified  in  applying  the  name  Greek  "^  to'  a 
period  3800  B.C.,  that  is,  relatively  as  early  as  our 
knowledge  of  Egypt;  nay,  he  may  have  furnished 
warrant  for  the  inference  that  primitive  man  made 
his  home  here  at  a  time  when  the  Sumerians  were 

^  I  do  not  imply  that  a  Minos  was  historical,  of  course;  the  name 
is  possibly  a  title,  like  Caesar,  or,  like  Creon,  may  mean  simply  a 
ruler.  On  Crete  as  a  'world-power,'  see  Les  Pheniciens  et  I'Odys- 
see,  Victor  Berard,  vol.  i,  pp.  225  f. 

'^  A.  Furtwangler  in  the  International  Quarterly,  vol.  xii,  p.  109. 


88      MODERN    THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN    BELIEF 

founding  their  city  on  the  Persian  Gulf.  However 
this  may  turn  out  ultimately,  the  ascertained  facts 
afford  plenteous  surprises.  A  modem  lavatory  and 
drainage  system,  examples  of  the  goldsmith's  art 
unrivalled  except  by  the  Italian  craftsmen  of  the 
Renascence,  plaster  work  fit  to  stand  comparison 
with  the  sculpture  of  the  classical  age,  achievements 
in  porcelain  so  excellent  as  to  suggest  connexion 
with  the  idealized  plaques  of  the  shield  of  Achilles,^ 
numerous  intaglios  graven  finely  with  various  mon- 
sters, a  system  of  weights  and  money,  clever  miniatures 
on  crystal,  mural  paintings  of  tribute  bearers,  —  all 
point  to  a  forceful  empire,  pulsating  with  intense  life, 
far  away  in  the  mists  of  a  dim  antiquity.  The  palace 
of  its  monarchs,  as  now  excavated,  taken  with  the 
accessories  found  there,  may  well  render  the 
famous  passage  in  the  "Odyssey""  no  romantic 
legend,  but  rather  a  memory  of  an  impressive  fact; 
while  the  paved  Theatral  Area  cannot  but  recall  the 
dancing  ground  "such  as  once  in  spacious  Knossos 
Daedalus  fashioned  for  Ariadne  of  the  braided  hair."' 

^  Iliad,  xviii,  478  f.  ^  viii,  83  f. 

3  Iliad,  xviii,  590  f.  The  first  building  at  Knossos  is  striking 
in  its  non-Hellenic  character;  the  Cretan  palace  is  a  labyrinth  of 
rooms,  the  Northern  (or  Hellenic)  Megaron  is  one-roomed;  at 
Mycenae  and  Tiryns,  for  example,  the  two  styles  are  found  in 
combination. 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  89 

Who   these   Minoans,    master-builders   and   rare 
artists,  may  have  been,  scholars  are  not  yet  clear. 
Their  work  intimates  at  least  that  Periclean  art  was 
no    fatherless    sport    in    the    ^gean    environment. 
Moreover,  their  religion  offers  pregnant  hints,  full  of 
intricate  problems.     It  centred  round  the  cult  of  a 
female    divinity,    evidently    a   nature-goddess,    and 
therefore   associated   with   fertility.^     With   her   an 
obscurer  being,  a  god,  was  worshipped,  and  held  in 
regard  sometimes  as  her  son,  sometimes  as  her  hus- 
band.    This  collocation,  so  strange  to  us,  at  once 
suggests  the  parallel  of  Ishtar  and  Tammuz,  with  its 
very  remote  goddess-mother  and  long  retinue  of  per- 
sistent  myths.     Traces   of   fetich  worship,  kindred 
with  the  Semitic,  exist  also.     The  trilith,  or  sacred 
portal,  at  Goulas,  the  asherahs  and  massebas,  the 
sacred  doves    and    dovecote,  the    tree    cult,    must 
compel  further  enquiry  and,  at  length,  serve  to  extri- 
cate some  questions  intractable  now.     And  so  the 
problem  of  the  relation  between  Minoan  and  Semitic 
culture  becomes  urgent,  especially  if,  as  some  were 
formerly  wont  to  think,  Sargon  of  Agade  never  saw 
the  "Upper  Sea."     Can  the  one  enable  us  to  under- 
stand the  other  better  ?     Did  they  come  into  contact  ? 
if  so,  how  and  when,  and  how  intimately?     If  not, 

'  She  was  also  the  queen  of  wild  beasts. 


QO       MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

what  comparative  results  can  we  extract  from  analysis 
of  the  respective  cults  ?  Again,  can  it  be  maintained 
that  Phoenician  art  was  no  more  than  Minoan  in  a 
decadent  stage?  In  view  of  Dr.  Evans's  'library' 
from  the  palace,  containing  about  one  thousand 
tablets,  written  in  a  clear  script,  which  antedates 
Phoenician  writing  by  five  centuries,  what  are  we  to 
say  next  of  the  settled  opinion  that  assigns  the  Greek 
alphabet  to  Phoenician  sources?  Was  an  Indo- 
European  language  the  medium  of  communication 
in  the  ^gean  basin  during  the  Minoan  supremacy?  ^ 
When  scholars  acquire  the  key  to  the  Knossos  tablets, 
shall  we  be  able  to  close  the  gap  between  Eastern  and 
Western  civilization  so  called  ?  What  is  the  relation 
of  the  Minotaur  to  the  Hittite  god  (Sutekh  ?)  standing 
on  a  bull?  What  about  the  double-headed  axe  of 
the  Cretan  Zeus  and  the  same  weapon  of  the  Hittite 
Amazon  priestesses,  the  traditional  founders  of 
Ephesus  ?  Did  Crete  give  Zeus  to  Greece,  or  do  we 
only  find  very  primitive  elements  in  the  worship  of 
the  god,  throwing  light,  possibly,  on  his  origin  ?  ^ 
How   did   Zeus-worship   evolve   from   that    of   the 

*  It  is  well  to  recall  that  the  names  Larisa,  Zakynthos,  Arisbe, 
Narkissos,  and  the  like  are  not  Greek. 

^  'Zeus'  may  be  merely  a  late  conventional  way  of  naming  the 
Cretan  bull  god. 


BREACHES    OF   THE    HOUSE  QI 

Nature-Mother?     Can  we  trace  a  parallel  evolution 
of  Yahw^h? 

In  like  manner,  the  brute-headed  men  on  the 
Minoan  seals,  although  they  present  affinities  with 
Babylonia,  refer  one  immediately  to  Egypt.  And  the 
same  problems  arise.  Whatever  may  be  the  final 
consensus  of  scholarship  as  to  details,  it  is  probable 
that  the  Cretan  excavations  have  disclosed  a  civiliza- 
tion of  Oriental,  rather  than  Occidental,  temper. 
Minoan  culture  belongs  with  the  Near  East,  not  with 
western  Europe,  even  if  its  cursive  script  may  yet 
conceal  much.  It  may  be,  for  example,  that  the 
Cretan  empire  builders  and  the  ancient  Libyan  race 
of  Egypt  are  of  common  stock.  If  so,  then  we  must 
look  for  the  roots  of  Greek  civilization  in  Africa ! 
Now  for  our  present  point.  '^Egean'  culture  as 
Asian  (or  African)  is  a  startling  idea  to  those  of  us 
who  have  been  taught  time  out  of  mind  to  consider 
Greece  the  bulwark  of  European  salvation  from 
'barbaric'  eastern  conquest.  Nay,  our  boyhood 
tradition  hails  from  Plato :  "We  are  pure  Hellenes," 
he  says,^  "having  no  admixture  of  foreigners,  and 
therefore  the  hatred  of  the  barbarian  has  passed 
unadulterated  into  the  life-blood  of  the  city."  These, 
and  similar  discoveries,  serve  to  show  how  a  priori 

^  Menexemis,  245. 


92       MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

theories  and  speculative  possibilities  must  yield  to 
transformation  in  face  of  new  knowledge,  and  give 
way  before  transitive  rearrangement  of  familiar,  but 
misunderstood  or  obscure  facts. 

This  resurrection  of  the  past  forms  but  one  of  many 
triumphs  wrought  by  the  'human'  sciences  these 
last  three  generations.  Sumerian,  Babylonian,  Ela- 
mite,  Hittite,  Assyrian,  Egyptian,  Chaldasan,  and 
Persian  overlordships,  to  say  nothing  of  the  civiliza- 
tions peculiar  to  the  Far  East,  have  paraded  before 
our  rapt  gaze.  And  we  realize,  for  the  first  time, 
that  the  history  of  human  culture  presents  itself  as  a 
long,  slow  process  amenable  to  explanation  from 
within.  We  elicit  the  meaning  from  the  facts,  not  by 
reference  to  a  presumed  supranatural  interference 
from  without.  The  respective  attitudes  of  research 
and  ignorance  are  nowhere  better  illustrated  than  by 
Dr.  Evans's  own  account  of  his  discovery  of  the  splen- 
did fresco,  the  "Cupbearer,"  at  Knossos. 

"In  carefully  uncovering  the  earth  and  debris  in  a 
passage  at  the  back  of  the  southern  Propylaeum  there 
came  to  light  two  large  fragments  of  what  proved 
to  be  the  upper  part  of  a  youth  bearing  a  gold- 
mounted  silver  cup.  The  robe  is  decorated  with  a 
beautiful  quatre-foil  pattern;  a  silver  ornament 
appears  in  front  of  the  ear,  and  silver  rings  on  the 
arms  and  neck.     What  is  specially  interesting  among 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  93 

the  ornaments  is  an  agate  gem  on  the  left  wrist,  thus 
illustrating  the  manner  of  wearing  the  beautifully 
engraved  signets  of  which  many  clay  impressions 
were  found  in  the  palace. 

"  The  colours  were  almost  as  brilliant  as  when  laid 
down  over  three  thousand  years  before.  For  the 
first  time  the  true  portraiture  of  a  man  of  this  mys- 
terious Mycenaean  race  rises  before  us.  The  flesh 
tint,  following  perhaps  an  Egyptian  precedent,  is  of  a 
deep  reddish  brown.  The  limbs  are  finely  moulded, 
though  the  waist,  as  usual  in  Mycen^an  fashions,  is 
tightly  drawn  in  by  a  silver-mounted  girdle,  giving 
great  relief  to  the  hips.  The  profile  of  the  face  is 
pure  and  almost  classically  Greek.  This,  with  the 
dark  curly  hair  and  high  brachycephalic  head,  re- 
calls an  indigenous  type  well  represented  still  in  the 
glens  of  Ida  and  the  White  Mountains  —  a  type 
which  brings  with  it  many  reminiscences  from  the 
Albanian  highlands  and  the  neighbouring  regions  of 
Montenegro  and  Herzegovina.  The  lips  are  some- 
what full,  but  the  physiognomy  has  certainly  no 
Semitic  cast.^  The  profile  rendering  of  the  eye  shows 
an  advance  in  human  portraiture  foreign  to  Egyptian 
art,  and  only  achieved  by  the  artists  of  classical 
Greece  in  the  early  fine-art  period  of  the  fifth  cen- 
tury B.C.  —  after  some  eight  centuries,  that  is,  of 
barbaric  decadence  and  slow  revival. 

'  It  may  be  noted  that  the  purest  type  of  the  Semite  is  the 
Arabian,  and  that  type  does  not  correspond  to  the  one  generally 
suggested  by  the  word  'Semite,'  viz.  the  Jew  and  Assyrian. 


94        MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS    IN    BELIEF 

"  There  was  something  very  impressive  in  this  vision 
of  brilliant  youth  and  of  male  beauty,  recalled  after 
so  long  an  interval  to  our  upper  air  from  what  had 
been  till  yesterday  a  forgotten  world.  Even  our 
untutored  Cretan  workmen  felt  the  spell  and  fascina- 
tion. They,  indeed,  regarded  the  discovery  of  such 
a  painting  in  the  bosom  of  the  earth  as  nothing  less 
than  miraculous,  and  saw  in  it  the  'icon'  of  a 
Saint !  The  removal  of  the  fresco  required  a  deHcate 
and  laborious  process  of  underplastering,  which 
necessitated  its  being  watched  at  night,  and  old  Mano- 
lis,  one  of  the  most  trustworthy  of  our  gang,  was  told 
off  for  the  purpose.  Somehow  or  other  he  fell  asleep, 
but  the  wrathful  Saint  appeared  to  him  in  a  dream. 
Waking  with  a  start,  he  was  conscious  of  a  mysterious 
presence;  the  animals  round  began  to  low  and  neigh, 
and  'there  were  visions  about';  '(fiavra^ei,'  he  said, 
in  summing  up  his  experiences  next  morning,  'the 
whole  place  spooks.'"^ 

^  The  Monthly  Review,  March,  1901,  pp.  124-125.  In  the 
number  for  January,  1901,  of  the  same  magazine,  see  Mr.  D.  G. 
Hogarth's  article  on  The  Birth  Cave  0/ Zeus  (pp.  49  ff.).  Further 
details,  in  articles  by  these  authors,  and  by  Messrs.  F.  B.  Welch 
and  Duncan  Mackenzie,  are  to  be  found  in  the  Joiirnal  of  Hellenic 
Studies  (London),  especially  vols,  xxi  and  xxii;  also  in  the  Annual 
of  the  British  School  at  Athens.  The  most  convenient  synopsis 
of  the  whole  subject,  with  the  literature  complete  to  date,  is  offered 
in  The  Discoveries  in  Crete  and  their  bearing  on  the  History  of 
Ancient  Civilization,  Professor  Ronald  M.  Burrows  (London, 
1907). 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  95 

Dr.  Evans  embodies  constructive  criticism,  Mano- 
lis  naive  presupposition. 

Accordingly,  we  may  now  ask.  What  is  the  his- 
torico-critical  attitude?  On  the  historical  side,  this 
point  of  view  teaches  that  man's  spiritual  life  pre- 
sents an  organic  whole,  governed  by.  immanent 
principles  peculiar  to  itself.  Culture-history  thus 
discloses  its  secret  in  an  unbroken  series  of  manifes- 
tations and,  wherever  the  import  of  the  process  has 
been  penetrated,  a  self-controlled  unity  has  afforded 
satisfactory  clews.  No  doubt,  the  differentiating 
principle  that  interpenetrates  all  continues  to  defy 
deepest  plummet.  To  assert  that  its  "stream  of 
tendency"  is  'necessary,'  reduces  the  mystery  not  a 
whit.  Nevertheless,  we  seem  to  see  at  least  that  the 
sole  medium  of  the  revelation  is  man  himself.  To 
adopt  Tieck's  phrase,  civilization  (in  the  sense  of 
culture)  possesses  "its  own  centre,  its  own  soul,  as  it 
w^re,  from  which  the  controlling  spirit  penetrates 
all  parts,  even  the  most  remote."  To  reconstruct 
this  synthetic  activity  is  the  aim  of  historical  method. 
And,  so  far  as  the  perplexing  task  has  attained  suc- 
cess, history  has  reconstituted  itself,  because  it  has 
proved  to  be  a  self-propelled  growth.  Thus,  on  the 
side  of  its  larger  setting,  the  historico-critical  method 
turns  out  to  be  philosophical,  and  "is  an  endeavour 


g6       MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

to  import  unity  and  connexion  into  the  scattered 
directions  of  cultural  thought,  to  follow  each  of  these 
directions  into  its  assumptions  and  into  its  conse- 
quences." ^ 

The  critical  factor  of  the  process  differs  little  in 
temper  and  procedure  from  any  other  kind  of  sci- 
ence. In  a  word,  it  must  be  classed  with  ordinary 
inductive  knowledge.  By  application  of  the  inductive 
method  to  languages,  literary  documents,  monuments, 
objects  of  art,  pottery,  traditions,  and  the  Hke,  con- 
trolled effort  is  put  forth  to  elicit  what  they  have  to 
tell  about  themselves.  The  Egyptian  monuments, 
the  cuneiform  inscriptions,  the  Vedas,  palimpsest 
Mss.,  Thucydides's  "History  of  the  Peloponnesian 
War,"  Xenophon's  "Memorabilia,"  the  contents  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  so  on,  yield  information 
about  themselves  whereby  we  arrive  at  a  definite 
grasp  upon  what  they  were  and  imply.  In  all  cases 
alike  the  same  standards  and  processes  apply.  Thus 
scholars  essay  to  set  the  materials  in  their  real  rela- 
tions and,  by  a  consecutive  system  of  checks  and 
balances,  to  reduce  them  to  consistency  with  them- 
selves and  one  another.  In  this  manner  they  place 
men  in  a  position  to  guard  themselves  against  mis- 
conception, or  naive   inference,   and   deliver   them 

^  Grundziige  der  Logik,  H.  Lotze,  sec.  88  (ist  ed.). 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  97 

from  the  substitution  of  preconceived  belief  or  opin- 
ion for  objective  fact.  As  a  result,  explanation  pre- 
cipitates itself  from  within  the  circle  of  the  evidence, 
and  extraneous  interference  becomes  a  superfluous 
hypothesis.  The  analytic  exhibition  of  origins  and 
concomitant  conditions  enables  the  expert  to  pass 
from  individual  cases  to  a  synthesis  of  principles  that 
holds  valid  universally  for  similar  phenomena.  The 
corrupt  Hebrew,  the  imaginary  history,  and  the  apoc- 
alyptic fiction  of  Daniel,  for  example,  prove  the 
book  a  product  of  the  Maccabasan  epoch,  just  in  the 
same  way  as  Plato's  language,  and  the  development 
of  his  technical  doctrine,  throw  light  upon  the  order 
of  the  Dialogues.  The  exhibition  of  sources,  that 
is,  leads  to  an  elucidation  of  credibihty,  scope,  and 
significance.  Pelops  and  Cadmus  were  the  ancestors 
of  the  Greeks  precisely  as  xA.braham  and  Jacob  of  the 
Israelites.  We  have  no  more  reason  to  believe  that 
Plato  took  down  the  sayings  of  Socrates  on  the  spot, 
and  transcribed  them  in  the  'Socratic'  Dialogues, 
than  that  the  Synoptists  performed  a  like  office  for 
Jesus.  Above  all,  both  problems  are  to  be  settled 
by  the  exercise  of  identical  discrimination,  by  the  use 
of  the  same  standards  —  there  happens  to  be  no  other 
way.  Results  may  diverge  widely  in  detail,  exactly  as 
they  do  in  the  natural  sciences,  but  the  method  of 


98        MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF. 

approach  and  the  attitude  before  the  evidence  must 
remain  unchanged  for  all  cases  equally. 

"No  Tyrian  trader  from  the  world  shall  hoard 
His  splendour  for  salvation,  no  dismay 
Shall  rant  on  flame-bursts,  nor  to  element 
Resign  the  soul !     But  something  of  a  faith 
In  understanding  of  a  modem  mood 
Shall  mean  God  most  in  complications  sprung 
Of  fluxion,  spring-life  and  the  lift  of  earth 
Inevitable.     And  my  theme  shall  be  .  .  . 
Let  the  new  creed  afford  right  meaning  for 
The  creed  rejected,  let  the  new  art  show 
Old  myth  subordinant,  old  metaphor 
But  outworn  fact :  thus,  the  new  fact  full  truth. 

No  sceptical  dismay 
More,  nor  withdrawal  from  the  market-place 
And  sphere  of  high  contention  faith  with  faith ! 
Here  is  earth's  wonderful  sweet  market-place 
Of  blossoming  contention  —  '  would  my  soul 
Had  learn'd  herself  so  as  a  world  of  men ! '  " 

We  see,  then,  that  the  historico-critical  movement 
is  not  encompassed  with  any  sort  of  mystery.  It 
amounts  to  an  attempt  on  man's  part  to  master  the 
meaning  of  his  own  past  by  reference  to  principles 
that  reach  formulation  only  on  the  basis  of  exact 
inquiry,  and  complete  loyalty  to  the  canons  of  ordi- 
nary  experience.     Trace   the   phenomena   to   their 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  99 

historical  origins,  follow  out  their  life  career,  and  it 
will  be  found  invariably  that  they  suffice  to  sys- 
tematize themselves;  the  rest  is  conjecture.  The 
identity,  mutatis  mutandis,  between  the  relations  of 
the  'Powers'  of  the  Near  East  in  the  time  of  the 
Tel-el- Amarna  "Letters,"  and  those  of  the  European 
'Powers'  in  our  own  day,  is  almost  laughable.  But, 
till  criticism  exploited  the  "Letters,"  and  history 
drew  the  unavoidable  inferences,  this  knowledge 
failed  us.^ 

The  materials,  then,  are,  on  the  one  hand,  prob- 
lems to  be  solved ;  on  the  other,  ideas  to  be  appre- 
ciated. The  results  garnered  wield  moral  influence 
chiefly ;  they  are  calculated  to  impress  the  will  by  al- 
tering one's  attitude  towards  the  enthralling  drama 
of  history.  Nevertheless,  as  contrasted  with  the  sci- 
entific consciousness,  the  historico-critical  movement 
has  remained  more  or  less  "caviare  to  the  general," 
and  for  evident  reasons.  It  depends  upon  evidence 
difficult  to  glean,  and  still  more  difficult  to  master, 
so  as  to  be  able  to  interpret  it.  It  appeals  to  fluid 
qualitative  judgements  rather  than  to  practical  (and 
therefore  simple)   quantitative  standards.     Most  of 

*  An  excellent  description  of  the  historico-critical  method  is  to 
be  found  in  vol.  i  of  The  Hexateuch,  by  J.  Estlin  Carpenter  and 
G.  Harford-Battersby  (London,  1900). 


lOO     MODERN    THOUGHT    AND   THE    CRISIS    IN    BELIEF 

all,  the  social  mind  has  never  associated  it  with  a 
rough-and-ready  theory  of  the  universe  v^hich,  on 
account  of  its  evident,  if  profound,  implications  for 
life,  obtains  widespread  attention  in  print  designed 
specially  for  the  popular  eye.  And  yet,  as  I  have 
said,  its  thrust  into  the  traditional  views  of  religion 
is  more  radical  by  far.  Let  us  look  at  this  for  a 
little,  concentrating  attention  upon  the  biblical 
narratives  and  documents. 

I.   Ancient  History 

At  the  outset  it  is  imperative  to  realize  that  we  must 
slough  all  ideas  of  chronology,  and  of  the  pivotal 
importance  of  the  "seed  of  Abraham,"  traceable  to 
dogmatic  opinions  about  the  'books  of  Moses.' 
According  to  these  delusions,  a  period  of  1656 
years  intervened  between  the  Creation  and  the  Flood, 
of  290  years  between  the  Flood  and  the  birth  of 
Abraham,  of  720  years  between  the  birth  of  Abraham 
and  the  Exodus  —  2666  years  altogether.  Adam, 
and  the  other  worthies  who  peopled  these  two  and  a 
half  millennia,  were  conceived  to  be  historical  person- 
ages as  a  matter  of  course;  nay,  more,  their  careers 
were  moulded  by  a  tendency  that  proceeded  from 
Yahweh  in  a  series  of  special  revelations.  The  Deity 
interposed  directly,  from  time  to  time,  to  promote 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  lOI 

the  welfare  of  Israel;  in  short,  the  universe  was  cre- 
ated with  particular  regard  to  Israel's  mission ;  univer- 
sal history  circled  round  this  vocation ;  all  else  was 
subordinate.  We  are  aware  now  that,  while  these 
pious  recitals  may  serve  to  edification,  their  historical 
conspectus  is  totally  untenable.  The  Creation,  a 
sinless  Adam  in  Paradise,  the  Fall,  the  confusion  of 
tongues,  and  the  rest,  may  remain  passing  good  folk- 
lore ;  they  never  happened  in  the  course  of  culture- 
history.  The  chronology,  that  is,  has  no  basis  in  fact, 
while  the  glamour  that  surrounds  Israel  amounts  to  a 
freak  of  late  fancy  playing  upon  legends  relative  to 
a  mythical  past.  The  truth,  so  far  as  ascertainable, 
tells  a  very  different  story. 

Take  a  map  of  western  Asia  and  northeastern 
Africa,  place  a  pair  of  nut-crackers  upon  it  so  that 
the  hinge  lies  on  the  Gulf  of  Issus;  now  move  the 
right-hand  leg  till  it  passes  beyond  the  eastern  shore 
of  the  Persian  Gulf,  covering  Susa;  move  the  left- 
hand  leg  till  it  coincides  with  the  Nile  valley  and 
covers  Thebes.  The  territory  enclosed  by  this  base- 
less triangle  includes  the  biblical  lands.  Next,  keep- 
ing the  hinge  steady,  bring  the  right-hand  leg  down 
sharply,  move  the  left-hand  leg  slowly  about  an  inch 
—  the  line  of  pressure  and  contact  will  coincide  with 
Palestine.      The  one  movement  indicates  the  fre- 


102     MODERN   THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

quent  and  rapid  incursions  into  Palestine  from  the 
Euphrates-Tigris  valley,  the  other  the  more  leisurely 
and  less  frequent  invasions  from  Egypt.  Further, 
as  compared  with  the  sweep  of  the  extended  legs,  the 
narrow  line  of  junction  denotes  the  relatively  small 
geographical  extent  and  importance  of  the  Prom- 
ised Land.  It  is  a  tiny  thing,  squeezed  continually 
between  world-empires.  Even  for  the  brief  period 
under  David  and  Solomon,  when  the  consolidated 
Israelitish  territory  became  rather  larger  than 
Massachusetts,  and  when  its  'world-power'  ran  from 
Kadesh  and  Damascus  in  the  north  to  Beersheba 
and,  possibly,  Elath,  on  the  Gulf  of  Akabah,  in  the 
south,  it  was  never  equipped  to  compete  on  equal 
terms  with  its  mighty  neighbours.  Moreover,  an 
Israel  bounded  on  the  north  by  Kadesh  and  Laish, 
on  the  south  by  Gaza  and  Rabbath  Moab,  was  an 
ideal  rather  than  a  reality,  the  short  time  of  Davidic 
prosperity  aside.  Indeed,  so  rapid  was  the  decline 
after  the  blaze  of  glory  that  attracted  the  Sabasan 
queen,  and  enabled  Solomon  (as  opinion  still  runs)  to 
marry  a  Pharaoh's  daughter,  that,  in  750  B.C.,  Israel's 
territory  measured  but  one  hundred  miles  from 
north  to  south,  seventy-five  from  east  to  west ;  while 
little  Judah,  the  eventual  heir  of  the  apocalyptic 
tradition,   included  just  fifty  square  miles.     What 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  I03 

could  they  do  against  Assyria,  or  Babylon,  or  Egypt, 
against  empires  ruling,  sometimes,  230,000  square 
miles  of  the  richest  country  in  that  world?  Little, 
except  as  their  powerful  enemies  fell  upon  weakness, 
as  in  the  days  of  Jeroboam  II,  or  of  the  Hasmonaeans, 
when  "the  yoke  of  the  heathen  was  taken  away  from 
Israel." 

This  reversal  of  perspective  regarding  temporal 
importance  tinds  parallel  at  least  as  transforming 
when  we  come  to  questions  of  chronology  and  the 
history  of  culture.  It  seems  a  far  cry  to  the  dawn  of 
the  Christian  era.  The  obscure  migration  —  one  of 
several  like  it  —  whence  the  legendary  personality 
of  Abraham  was  precipitated,  runs  back  from  the 
first  Christian  century  just  about  the  same  period  as 
we  date  forward  from  it.  And  yet  the  exquisite 
sih'er  vase  of  Entemena,  the  priest-king  of  Lagash,  in 
southern  Babylonia,  transports  us  to  a  time  nineteen 
hundred  years  before  the  Abrahamitic  migration.^ 
Nevertheless,  even  Entemena  was  a  modern  man,  if 
we  grope  to  the  first  settlement  of  Eridu,  the  city  of 
the   god    Ea,  by  the  Sumerians,   some  6500  b.c.^ 

'  Cf.  Explorations  in  Bible  Lands,  H.  V.  Hilprecht,  p.  241. 

'  Cf.  Babylonians  and  Assyrians;  Life  and  Custoyns,  A.  H.  Sayce, 
p.  2.  Professor  Sayce's  date  is  based  upon  the  rate  of  alluvial 
deposit  in  the  Persian  Gulf  from  the  time  of  Alexander.     It  should, 


I04    MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

Nay,  when  we  quit  history  for  myth,  the  Babylonian 
calculations  put  the  biblical  to  utter  shame.  From 
the  Creation  to  the  Deluge  ten  kings  reigned  for 
432,000  years;  from  the  Deluge  to  the  Persian  con- 
quest was  an  astronomical  period  of  36,000  years. 
But,  without  trenching  upon  myth,  or  calling  atten- 
tion to  the  remarkable  correspondence  of  the  Baby- 
lonian figures  with  the  conclusions  of  modern  science 
as  to  the  age  of  man  upon  earth,  the  bare  facts  furnish 
food  enough  for  reflexion. 

The  people  known  to  us  as  the  Hebrews  belonged 
to  the  Semitic  stock  which,  as  recent  investigation  has 
proved,  played  a  foremost  role  in  the  development 
of  human  culture.  While  it  is  difficult  to  formulate 
the  divisions  of  the  race  in  a  manner  entirely  satis- 
factory, any  one  of  the  several  arrangements  adopted 
by  scholars  serves  to  show  wide  extension,  exceptional 
vitality,  and  primary  importance.  Thus,  for  ex- 
ample, the  North  Semites  fall  into  four  divisions, 
viz.:  (i)  Babylonian  (Old  Babylonian,  Assyrian, 
Chaldasan) ;  (2)  Aramaean  (Mesopotamian,  Syrian) ; 
(3)  Canaanitic  (Canaanites,  Phoenicians) ;  (4)  He- 
braic (Hebrews,  Moabites,  Ammonites,  Edomites). 

perhaps,  be  stated  that  Eridu  is  said  to  have  been  on  "the  shore 
of  the  sea"  in  the  reign  of  Dungi,  son  of  Ur-en-Gur,  cir.  3000. 
Cf.  Orient.  Lit.  Zeitung,  1907,  S.  583. 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  I05 

There  were  three  groups  of  South  Semites,  viz., 
(i)  Sabaeans,  (2)  Ethiopians,  (3)  Arabs/  The  for- 
tunes of  the  Hebrews  form  part  and  parcel  of  Semitic 
civilization  as  a  whole,  and  at  a  late  period,  compara- 
tively, in  its  development.  So  much  so  that,  if  we 
recall  the  picturesque  story  of  Joseph,  we  must  recog- 
nize many  waves  of  migration  from  Arabia,  not  merely 
in  subhistorical,  but  also  in  prehistoric,  times.  With 
these  the  "chosen  people"  were  intertwined  inex- 
tricably, and  they  formed  no  exception  to  a  very 
general  rule.  Causes  operative  elsewhere,  and  on  a 
much  larger  scale,  suffice  to  explain  the  recorded 
phenomena,  when  they  have  any  historical  basis. 

The  course  of  events  prior  to  the  Exodus  of  Hebrew 
tradition  may  be  outlined  as  briefly  as  possible. 
Apart  from  a  general  view  of  it,  one  cannot  realize 
the  import  of  later  history  and,  very  specially,  adjust 
the  focus. 

Old  Babylonia  was  settled  in  remote  days  by  a 
non-Semitic  people,  the  Sumerians.  They  were  city 
folk,  and  the  city  appears  to  have  been  the  unit  of 
government.  The  principal  settlements  of  this  pre- 
historic age  were  Eridu,  on  the  Persian  Gulf,  Ur, 
some  forty  miles  west  on  the  Euphrates,  and  Nippur, 

*  Cf.  History,  Prophecy,  and  the  Monuments,  James  Frederick 
McCurdy,  vol.  i,  p.  19. 


Io6     MODERN  THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

about  eighty  miles  northwest,  near  the  centre  of  the 
plain  between  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris.  When  the 
first  Semitic  hordes  migrated  to  this  region  is  not 
known.  At  all  events,  in  farthest  historical  times, 
and  earlier,  a  Semitic  culture  had  blossomed  here 
already,  and  the  Sumerians  had  become  incorporated 
in  a  civilization  which,  though  influenced  profoundly 
by  the  older  race,  was  Semitic  in  general  character. 
From  this  cosmopolitan  culture  the  first  great  empire 
of  western  Asia  came  forth.  So  early  as  Sargon  of 
Agad^,  Palestine  ranked  with  other  Babylonian  prov- 
inces. His  son,  Naram-Sin,  obtained,  amongst  other 
spoil,  a  vase  of  Egyptian  alabaster,  itself  indicative 
of  the  extent  of  his  conquests.  Nor  was  it  a  crude 
civilization  that  penetrated  to  Palestine  thus  early. 
S argon's  gem-cutters  produced  specimens  of  their 
art  equal  to  the  best  work  of  later  periods,  and  the 
bas-relief  portrait  of  Naram-Sin  rivals,  if  it  does  not 
surpass,  the  familiar  masterpieces  of  Assyria  two 
millennia  after.  Religion  and  law,  government  and 
commerce,  had  made  distinct  advances.  Art  had 
reached  high  development.  The  arch,  so  indispen- 
sable to  large  archievement  in  architecture,  and  sup- 
posed usually,  until  a  recent  date,  to  have  been  in- 
vented by  the  Romans  about  looo  B.C.,  was  used  in 
Babylonia  nearly  3000  years  before  this  time.    About 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  I07 

2700  B.C.,  when  Gudea  was  priest-king  of  Lagash, 
with  Ur-Nina  of  Ur  as  suzerain,  we  find  Palestine 
still  under  Babylonian  domination,  and  this  relation 
seems  to  have  existed  for  at  least  two  hundred  years 
more.  Then  followed  a  second  Arab  migration, 
known  as  the  Amoritic,  which  overflowed  Hither 
Asia  (including  Palestine),  South  Arabia,  and, 
possibly,  Egypt.  In  2225  B.C.,  we  find  a  Semitic 
Pharaoh  (Khyan)  — a  "lord  of  the  desert,"  or  chief 
of  Beduin.  These  Amorites  appear  to  have  been 
absorbed  by  the  populous  Babylonia  and  Egypt,  but 
in  Palestine  they  maintained  themselves  as  a  separate 
people.  After  the  disintegration  of  the  Babylonian 
government  resultant  upon  this  incursion,  the  moun- 
taineers of  Elam,  to  the  northwest  of  the  Euphrates- 
Tigris  plain,  who  had  doubtless  suffered  chastisement 
at  the  hands  of  their  more  progressive  neighbours, 
saw  their  opportunity,  and  attacked  the  wealthy 
lowlanders,  sacking  Nippur,  and  scattering  destruc- 
tion among  the  monuments  of  a  civilization  that  had 
already  wielded  overlordship  for  the  same  period  as 
Christianity  has  now  ruled  the  Western  world.  The 
much  disputed  fourteenth  chapter  of  Genesis  may  be 
a  Palestinian  reminiscence  of  this  raid;  if  so,  the 
emigration  of  Abraham  was  an  incidental  phenome- 
non in  a  widespread  movement.     But  the  Elamites 


Io8     MODERN  THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

had  to  reckon  with  the  Canaanite  or  Amorite  invaders 
who  thus  preceded  them.  For  from  them  sprang 
a  dynasty  whose  main  ornament  was  the  famous 
juridical  monarch,  Hammurabi.  According  to  the 
latest  calculation,  he  reigned  about  1900  B.C.,  that  is, 
seven  centuries  before  the  Exodus.  Under  him 
Babylon  became  the  metropolis  of  western  Asia,  and 
entered  upon  her  wonderful  career  as  the  holy  city  of 
this  vast  region.  As  some  think  now,  not  Jerusalem, 
or  Rome,  but  Babylon,  was  "the  mother  of  us  all." 
Hammurabi  not  only  redeemed  the  old  empire  from 
the  Elamite  yoke,  but  restored  its  supremacy  to  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  It  can  hardly  be 
doubted  that  some  of  the  legislation  to  be  found  in 
the  "Book  of  the  Covenant"  (Ex.  xx.  22-xxiii.  t,t^; 
xxxiv.  11-26)  was  related  closely  to  his  great  code, 
graven  upon  the  black  diorite  pillar  now  in  the 
Louvre.  The  dominion  of  Babylonia,  thus  rein- 
augurated  by  Hammurabi,  was  destined  to  last  for 
four  centuries.  That  Palestine  prospered  during 
this  period,  became,  in  fact,  the  "  land  flowing  with 
milk  and  honey,"  we  know  from  the  Egyptian 
"Romance  of  Sinhuit."  Agriculture  and  commerce 
flourished,  civiHzation  was  accordant. 

Yet  a  third  migration  brought  this  period  to  an 
end,  when  the  Kassites,  a  Tartar-like  people  from 


BREACHES    OF   THE    HOUSE  lOQ 

central  Asia,  broke  through  Elam,  and  founded  a 
dynasty  in  Babylon.  In  the  same  epoch  a  non-Semitic 
race,  the  Mitanni,  carved  out  a  kingdom  on  the  head- 
waters of  the  Euphrates,  and  thus  cut  off  Babylonia 
from  her  trade  routes  with  western  Asia.  Syn- 
chronous with  these  movements  was  the  successful 
invasion  of  Egypt  by  the  Shepherd  or  Hyksos  kings, 
who  were  Asiatics  —  possibly  Semites,  and  who  held 
rule  in  Palestine,  after  some  sort,  ere  they  over- 
whelmed Egypt,  if  Numbers  xiii.  22  is  to  be  cred- 
ited. It  is  within  the  bounds  of  possibility  that  the 
eponyms  of  the  Exodus  set  out  upon  their  wanderings 
in  this  era,  as  a  wavelet  in  the  general  unrest.  The 
net  result,  as  concerns  the  present  theme,  was  the 
decline  of  Babylonia,  whose  commerce  waned,  and 
the  rise  of  Egypt,  to  freedom  first,  then  to  world- 
empire,  after  she  had  expelled  the  hateful  foreigners. 
With  Thebes  as  base,  the  seventeenth  dynasty  began 
the  Hundred  Years'  War  which,  under  Aahmes,  the 
founder  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty,  resulted  in  the 
final  rout  of  the  Hyksos.  If  contemporary  records 
run  true,  the  defeated  Shepherds  retired  into  Pales- 
tine. The  Egyptian  monarch  was  compelled  to  pur- 
sue as  a  matter  of  mere  prudence,  and,  eventually, 
his  countrymen  gained  an  Asiatic  empire  to  the 
Euphrates  plain.     This  was  achieved  by  Thothmes 


no     MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

III  (1493  B.C.),  the  mightiest  of  the  Pharaohs,  whose 
rule,  assured  at  the  battle  of  Megiddo  in  northwestern 
Palestine,  extended  over  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt, 
through  the  Sinaitic  Peninsula  and  Palestine  as  far  as 
Coele-Syria,  thence  south  and  east,  including  the  old 
kingdom  of  Agade  and  Hammurabi,  to  the  borders  of 
Elam.  Egyptian  governors  were  placed  in  the  con- 
quered provinces,  to  render  administration  perma- 
nent. Thothmes  died  two  hundred  years  before  the 
Exodus,  and  his  rearrangement  of  the  civilized  world 
maintained  itself  for  a  century.  Later  antagonists  of 
Egypt,  like  the  Hittites  and  Assyrians,  are  on  friendly 
terms  with  Amenhotep  III,  as  the  Tel-el-Amarna 
"Letters"  show.  These  letters,  moreover,  reveal  the 
amazing  fact  that  Babylonian  civilization  had  become 
so  engrained  in  Hither  Asia  that  its  language  and 
script  were  the  media  of  communication  between 
educated  people,  and  the  sole  proper  form  for  diplo- 
matic correspondence  between  rulers.  Not  only  the 
dwellers  in  the  Euphrates-Tigris  district,  but  the 
Hittites,  Canaanites,  and  even  the  imperial  Egyptians 
themselves,  employ  it.  It  stood  to  this  period  and 
provenance  as  French  did  to  eighteenth-century 
Europe,  and  communication  in  the  ancient  epoch 
appears  to  have  been  as  frequent,  regular,  and 
easy   as  in  the  modern.     An  excellent  postal  ser- 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  III 

vice,    conducted    probably    by     Beduin,     was    in 
existence. 

Religious  dissension  overtook  Egypt  in  the  next 
reign,  and  thereupon  her  power  suffered  decline. 
The  Hittites  descended  upon  Syria  from  the  Taurus, 
and  the  Khabiri  (probably  another  migration  from 
Arabia)  threatened  Abd-khiba,  the  official  who 
governed  Jerusalem  for  the  Pharaoh.  The  Hittite 
king,  Sapalulu,  made  himself  supreme  to  the  north  of 
Palestine,  while  Moab  and  Ammon,  the  "children  of 
Lot,"  came  to  bear  rule  in  the  southeast.  Notwith- 
standing this  pressure  from  two  sides,  the  Canaanite 
strongholds  in  central  Palestine  seem  to  have  main- 
tained themselves  intact  —  a  fact  full  of  meaning. 
The  fourth  migration,  the  Aramieic,  must  be  con- 
nected closely  with  the  biblical  legends  of  the  pa- 
triarchs and  their  involuted  domestic  relations.  This 
state  of  disorder  in  Palestine  was  ended  by  Sety  I 
(1345  B.C.),  who  reduced  the  country  to  vassalage 
once  more,  carrying  his  conquest  as  far  as  Lebanon. 
His  son,  Rameses  II,  the  most  famous  of  Pharaohs, 
continued  this  poHcy,  and  came  into  conflict  with  the 
Hittites.  After  twenty  years  of  indecisive  fighting, 
both  powers  negotiated  a  solemn  treaty  of  alliance 
whereby  Palestine  remained  to  Egypt,  Syria  to  the 
Hittites.     Havincr  married  the  daughter  of  Khate- 


112     MODERN   THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

sera,  the  Hittite  monarch,  Rameses  spent  the  remain- 
der of  his  long  reign  in  cultivation  of  the  arts  of  peace. 
He  blossomed  into  a  great  builder,  using  forced 
labour,  like  all  Oriental  potentates,  and,  in  this  con- 
nexion, took  his  place  in  biblical  quasi-history  as  the 
"Pharaoh  of  the  Oppression."  When  the  "mixed 
multitude"  of  slaves  —  barbarians,  as  the  Egyptians 
deemed  them  —  fled  into  the  desert,  we  do  not  know ; 
no  details  survive  that  suffice  to  throw  any  light  upon 
the  subject.  But  over  and  over  again  we  must  em- 
phasize the  fact  that  it  is  only  at  this  point  in  the 
tremendous  panorama  that  Israel  makes  its  first 
appearance  on  the  stage,  not  of  history,  indeed,  but 
of  direct  tradition.  Whatever  the  Exodus  may  have 
been  historically,  the  conditions  for  its  occurrence 
eventuated  between  1250  and  1190  B.C.,  when  Egypt 
lay  in  a  condition  of  civil  anarchy.  The  shepherds 
of  Goshen,  if  they  moved,  left  during  this  period, 
and  their  descendants,  several  generations  later, 
arrived  eventually  in  a  land  which  had  been  highly 
civilized  for  two  thousand  years,  and  had  undergone 
already  a  series  of  vicissitudes  as  dramatic  as  any 
that  were  to  follow. 

Finally,  about  this  period  di fifth,  and  wholly  differ- 
ent, migration  took  place.  Driven  from  their  main- 
land homes  on  the  coasts  of  Asia  Minor  and  Greece, 


BREACHES    OF   THE    HOUSE  II3 

and  probably  from  the  i^gean  Islands,  by  northern 
foes,  these  non-Semitic  people  fell  upon  Egypt, 
swarmed  overland  to  Syria,  or  came  by  sea  to  the 
Palestinian  coasts.  This  displacement  may  have 
synchronized  with  the  final  destruction  of  Minoan 
civilization  in  Crete.  In  any  event,  the  Philistines, 
cast  upon  the  shores  of  Palestine  by  it,  were  not  an 
indigenous  race,  and  it  is  at  least  an  interesting  specu- 
lation that  they  may  have  been  descendants  of  the 
master-builders  of  Knossos.  To  this  invasion  the 
dissolution  of  the  Hittite  empire  was  due.  In  Egypt 
the  intruders  were  unsuccessful,  for  Rameses  II 
defeated  them  at  sea  off  the  Phoenician  cities.  Hav- 
ing thus  secured  herself,  Egypt  withdrew  from  inter- 
ference in  Palestine  for  two  hundred  and  seventy-five 
years. 

Evidently,  then.  Hither  Asia  had  waxed  very  old 
ere  Israel  threw  itself  upon  the  southeastern  limits  of 
Palestine,  so  recently  attacked  on  the  west  by  the 
Philistines.  And,  be  it  noted,  the  entire  history  to 
this  point,  its  awe-inspiring  scale  and  its  invocation 
of  gods  innumerable  notwithstanding,  has  presented 
no  abnormal,  non-human,  or  supranatural  features. 
Is  there  any  reason  to  suppose  that  a  sixth,  and  minor, 
migration  of  Arab  nomads  will  not  remain  amenable 
to  ordinary  historical  causes  and  racial  characteristics  ? 


114    MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

2.    The  Old  Testament 

Having  thus  tried  to  realize  that  Old  Testament 
times  form  but  a  fragment  of  Semitic  civilization,  to 
say  nothing  of  ancient  civilization  as  a  whole,  and 
that,  according  to  present  knowledge,  the  customary 
exclusion  of  this  consideration  results  in  a  false  per- 
spective, with  its  indefensible  exaggeration  of  an 
episode,  let  us  turn  now  to  the  Hebrews  themselves. 

Confronted  with  the  history  of  Israel,  we  discover 
at  once  that  a  grave  disadvantage  besets  us.  To 
those  who  have  bestowed  little  or  no  attention  upon 
the  matter,  the  reason  may  well  occasion  profound 
surprise.  In  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  records  that 
present  the  history  of  Babylonia,  Egypt,  and  Assyria 
are  the  veritable  originals  for  the  most  part.  Further, 
they  are  often  contemporary  with  the  events  related. 
Deeds  from  the  offices  of  the  great  Babylonian  bank- 
ers, the  Egibi  firm,  and  of  their  earHer  colleagues,  the 
house  of  Alurashu,  at  Nippur,  are  in  our  hands, 
signed,  sealed,  and  delivered  on  the  occasions  of  the 
transactions  which  they  detail.  Besides,  we  are 
aware  that  editing  in  Babylonia  — 

"  was  done  with  scrupulous  care.  Where  a  character 
was  lost  in  the  original  text  by  a  fracture  of  the 
tablet,  the  copyist  stated  the  fact,  and  added  whether 


BREACHES    OF   THE    HOUSE  115 

the  loss  was  recent  or  not.  Where  the  form  of  the 
character  was  uncertain,  both  the  signs  which  it  re- 
sembled are  given.  Some  idea  may  be  formed  of  the 
honesty  and  care  with  which  the  Babylonian  scribes 
worked  from  the  fact  that  the  compiler  of  the  Baby- 
lonian Chronicle,  which  contains  a  synopsis  of  later 
Babylonian  history,  frankly  states  that  he  does  'not 
know'  tlie  date  of  the  battle  of  Khalule,  which  was 
fought  between  the  Babylonians  and  Sennacherib. 
The  materials  at  his  disposal  did  not  enable  him  to 
settle  it."  ' 

On  the  contrary,  if  Abraham  be  chosen  as  the 
starting-point,  and  if  he  were  a  contemporary  of 
Hammurabi,  Israelitish  history  runs  more  than 
eleven  hundred  years  ere  we  come  upon  contempo- 
rary records  approximately.  And,  when  historical 
times  are  reached,  the  documents  reveal  interested 
editing;  not,  indeed,  the  childish,  vainglorious  boast- 
ing of  some  Egyptian  regal  monuments,  but  a  subtle 
evaluation,  maximizing  here,  minimizing  there,  and 
designed  to  produce  a  certain  impression  about  the 
facts,  not  to  reproduce  the  facts  themselves.  Briefly, 
a  theory  has  been  formulated,  and  by  its  authority 
the  facts  were  adjusted.  To  overcome  this  prodigious 
initial  difficulty  has  been  one  main  task  of  modern 
scholarship.      Small  wonder!     For,  "over  a  thou- 

*  Babylonians  and  Assyrians,  A.  H.  Sayce,  p.  53. 


Il6     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

sand  years  separate  our  earliest  Hebrew  manuscripts 
from  the  date  at  which  the  latest  of  the  books  con- 
tained in  them  was  originally  written."  ^  Strange 
irony  of  fate,  not  to  say  strange  oversight  of  an  om- 
nipotent God  respecting  His  own  special  revelation, 
that  the  official  seals  affixed  to  letters  by  the  bureau- 
cracy of  Sargon  of  Agade  should  have  come  down  to 
us,  while  documentary  evidence  of,  say,  the  '  prophe- 
cies'  of  Isaiah  is  "no  earlier  than  the  ninth  century 
after  Christ!"^  The  fortunes  of  these  precious 
works  are  known  more  or  less  ..generally  from  about 
270  A.D.;  prior  to  200  B.C.  conjecture  reigns,  becom- 
ing more  and  more  vague  as  the  years  recede.  What 
would  we  not  give  to-day  for  any  portion  of  the  Old 
Testament  as  it  left  the  hands  of  the  writer,  especially 
if  he  could  have  shown  something  of  the  care  be- 
stowed by  the  Babylonian  scribe?  So,  instead  of 
indestructible  monuments,  what  have  we? 

"There  is  one  book  of  books  that  is  generally  re- 
garded as  the  most  suitable  of  all  for  general  and 
constant  reading,  the  very  best  book:  this  is  the 
Bible.  Few  books,  however,  prove  so  conclusively 
as  does  this  that  the  bulk  of  mankind  cannot  read  at 
all.     The  so-called  Old  Testament  comprises,  as  is 

*  Our  Bible  and  the  Ancient  Manuscripts,  Frederick  G.  Ken- 
yon,  p.  35  (3d  ed.). 
2  Ibid. 


BREACHES    OF    THE   HOUSE  117 

well  known,  all  that  is  left  to  us  of  the  ancient  Hebrew 
literature  of  a  period  of  800  years,  together  with  some 
few  books  in  Greelv.  It  includes  writings  of  the  most 
various  value  and  the  most  various  origin,  which 
have  come  down  to  us  with  text  edited  comparatively 
recently,  often  corrupt  and  marred  in  addition  by 
endless  copying,  writings  ascribed  as  a  rule  to  men 
who  never  wrote  them,  nearly  all  difficult  to  under- 
stand, and  demanding  extensive  historical  knowledge 
in  order  to  be  read  with  the  smallest  profit."  * 

Yet  on  this  record,  and  often  in  ignorance  or  mis- 
apprehension of  its  nature,  scope,  and  import,  many 
would  still  have  us  stake  our  hope  of  salvation ! 

The  Old  Testament  becomes  unintelligible  inevi- 
tably if,  as  is  habitual,  one  mistake  it  for  a  mono- 
graph. Evidently  it  ought  to  be  viewed  as  a  library, 
the  collected  and  edited  remains  of  a  literature  origi- 
nated by  a  "peculiar  people"  throughout  a  millen- 
nium. To  unravel  and  systematize  its  historical 
relations  is  therefore  an  indispensable  preliminary 
to  any  conclusion  about  its  message  and  fundamental 
value.  At  present  we  must  confine  ourselves  to  a 
brief  survey,  directed  chiefly  to  appreciation  of  the 
general  situation  and  its  results. 

At  this  point  it  were  well  to  recall  that  the  patri- 

*  Georg  Brandes,  in  the  International  Quarterly,  vol.  xii,  pp. 
278-279  (1906). 


Il8     MODERN   THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

archs  are  legendary  beings;  that  the  story  of  Abra- 
ham's eventual  migration  to  Egypt  may  be  due, 
possibly,  to  editorial  misconception  —  the  place 
mentioned  may  be  in  the  Sinaitic  Peninsula,  far 
removed  from  Egypt;  that,  as  yet,  we  have  no  evi- 
dence of  Israel's  sojourn  in  Goshen;  that,  in  any 
case,  the  Israel  of  David  never  could  have  been  there, 
and  that,  therefore,  the  popular  idea  of  the  Exodus 
has  no  foundation  in  fact.  Granted  that  the  'Exo- 
dus' took  place  about  1230  B.C.,  the  remanent 
literature  affords  little  or  no  record  of  events  (myth, 
legend,  and  song  aside)  for  a  period  of  about  four 
centuries;  while  the  great  age  of  composition  falls 
in  the  350  years  between  750  and  400  B.C.,  subse- 
quent, that  is,  to  a  national  consciousness  of  a  special 
mission,  in  the  interest  of  which  the  literature  is 
enlisted,  and  the  more  ancient  fragments  embellished 
or  reconstructed.  Needless  to  say,  this  transitive, 
doctrinaire  standpoint,  were  it  not  so  evident,  would 
render  evaluation  almost  impossible.  Fortunately, 
such  slight  pains  have  been  taken  at  concealment  that 
it  affords  positive  aid.  In  other  words,  the  literature 
could  not  have  come  into  existence  in  its  present  form 
till  after  the  national  consciousness  had  crystallized, 
at  least  in  the  minds  of  the  leaders.  Accordingly, 
it  has  proved  possible  to  map  the  main  outlines  of  a 


BREACHES    OF   THE    HOUSE  II9 

most  tortuous  process.  The  pivotal  date  is  621  B.C., 
when  the  Deuteronomic  Law  was  ratified  and  en- 
forced by  Josiah.  So,  for  the  present  illustrative 
purpose,  it  may  suffice  to  consider  the  literature  till 
Josiah. 

By  the  unobservant  manner  in  which  he  reads  the 
Bible,  the  plain  man  justifies  Brandes's  assertion 
quoted  above.  Even  in  the  English  version,  the  Old 
Testament  bristles  with  evidences  of  composite 
origin,  yet  few  seem  to  take  heed.  The  contrast 
between  the  two  creation-myths  in  Genesis  i  and 
ii  can  hardly  escape  notice.  But  how  many  of  you 
have  observed  such  points  as  the  following?  What 
is  the  meaning  of  the  inconsequential  stuff  in  the  first 
four  verses  of  Genesis  vi  ?  That  is,  what  has  been 
cut  out  deliberately  ?  Psalm  xlv  stands  alone  in  the 
psalter;  evidently  it  is  a  royal  epithalamium.  In 
Isaiah  a  break  occurs  at  the  fourth  verse  of  the 
tenth  chapter,  and  another  at  the  end  of  the  twelfth 
chapter.  In  Joshua  xix.  47  and  Judges  i.  34  the 
same  political  condition  is  sketched.  The  hymn 
in  I  Chronicles  xvi.  8-36  is  extracted  from  the 
one  hundred  fifth,  ninety-sixth,  and  one  hundred 
sixth  Psalms.  In  Joshua  vi  two  accounts  of  the 
fall  of  the  walls  of  Jericho  have  been  welded ;  and  the 
same  holds  true  of  the  story  of  the  Egyptian  plagues 


I20     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS   IN    BELIEF 

in  Genesis  vii.  14-xi.  8.  In  Joshua  xv.  13-19,  63; 
xvi.  1-3,  10;  xvii.  1-2,  8-18,  we  have  a  representa- 
tion of  the  conquest  of  Canaan  by  individual  prowess; 
even  Joshua  himself  is  the  leader  of  the  Joseph  clan 
only,  not  of  a  united  Israel ;  that  is,  the  main  stand- 
point of  the  book  as  a  whole  is  contradicted.  Simi- 
larly, though  now  in  a  theological  as  contrasted  with 
a  historical  context,  the  sacrificial  verses  at  the  end  of 
the  exquisite  fifty-first  Psalm  traverse  the  spirit  that 
has  touched  the  song  to  such  fine  issues.  Or,  to  take 
but  one  other  example,  have  you  ever  tried  to  separate 
the  two  self-contained,  but  mutually  exclusive,  stories 
of  Joseph's  sale  into  Egypt  ?  (Genesis  xxxvii,  xxxix- 
xl.)  According  to  one  tale,  Joseph's  brethren  hate 
him,  because  he  has  visions  which  foretell  his  superior- 
ity. When  he  visits  them  at  the  grazings,  they  decide 
to  kill  him.  Reuben  dissuades  them,  and  they  cast 
him  into  a  disused  cistern,  whence  Reuben  expects  to 
rescue  him  privily.  Midianites  steal  him  away,  and 
sell  him  to  Potiphar,  the  governor  of  the  prison.  Here 
it  is  his  duty  to  act  as  attendant  upon  two  privileged 
prisoners.  He  tells  their  dreams  for  them,  and  asks 
them  to  remember  him  with  Pharaoh,  informing  the 
'butler'  that  he  has  been  stolen  from  his  homeland. 
According  to  the  other  tale,  Joseph's  brethren  hate 
him,  because  he  is  the  favoured  son,  who  has  received 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  121 

a  garment  significant  of  princely  rank.  When  he 
visits  them  at  the  grazings,  they  decide  to  kill  him. 
Judah  dissuades  them,  and  they  sell  him  to  a  group 
of  Ishmaelites.  The  Ishmaelites  sell  him  to  an 
anonymous  person  in  Egypt,  who  has  a  wife.  For  the 
sake  of  Joseph's  god,  Yahweh,  this  person  prospers. 
The  wife  slanders  Joseph,  and  he  is  thrown  into 
prison,  where,  thanks  once  more  to  Yahweh,  he  ingra- 
tiates himself  with  the  governor.  Plainly,  two  legends 
have  been  united  here,  and  both  cannot  be  true. 
These  examples,  then,  may  serve  to  indicate  the 
composite  character  of  the  documents  as  they  have 
descended  to  us.  And,  when  we  come  to  consider 
the  literature  before  Josiah,  this  fact  assumes  para- 
mount importance. 

In  the  first  place,  the  larger  portion  of  the  material 
is  anonymous.  The  authors  of  the  following  are 
known,  viz. :  Amos,  Hosea,  Isaiah  i-xxxvii 
(but  chapters  xii.  2-xiv.  22;  xxi.  i-io;  xxiv-xxvii; 
xxxiv-xxxv  were  written  subsequent  to  Josiah), 
Nahum,  Micah  i-vii.  6,  Habakkuk,  and  Zeph- 
aniah.  For  the  rest,  we  are  forced  to  conclude 
that  the  documents  present  the  most  complex 
character.  Myth  and  legend  in  the  form  of  epos, 
song,  hero-saga,  fable,  proverb,  precept,  folklore, 
primitive  custom,  clan  and  domestic  law,  rhapsody, — 


122     MODERN  THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

all  contribute  their  respective  shares.^  Lost  collec- 
tions, like  the  Book  of  Jashar  and  the  Book  of 
the  Wars  of  Yahweh,  are  quoted.  Throughout, 
evidences  of  compilation,  readjustment,  and  repeated 
revision  abound.  At  the  same  time,  it  has  been 
discerned,  after  laborious  examination,  that  these 
literary  phenomena  offer  no  exceptional  or  unparal- 
leled features.  Consequently,  historical  criticism, 
in  the  hands  of  its  most  accomplished  exponents,  has 
been  able  to  reach  certain  definite  findings.  For, 
all  things  considered,  one  can  agree  that  "the  battle 
over  the  Old  Testament  is  as  good  as  ended." 
Opinion  may,  and  does,  differ  about  many  details; 
for  example,  was  the  ashera  a  tree  or  pole,  or  a 
goddess?  But,  on  the  broad  general  outline,  the 
conclusions  are  accepted  even  by  conservative  in- 
vestigators. The  cumulative  nature  of  the  evidence 
admits  of  no  other  result. 

The  remainder  of  the  early  literature,  then,  con- 
sists, in  the  main,  of  three  documents,  known  re- 
spectively as  the  Jahvist,  the  Elohist,  and  the 
Deuteronomist ;  the  last  belongs  to  the  period  of 
Josiah.     During    the    exile,    a    fourth    author,    the 

*  Students  of  the  Old  Testament  would  do  well  to  compare 
similar  phenomena  in  the  Iliad,  e.g.,  the  famous  catalogue  of 
ships,  the  injuries  wrought  by  the  gods  in  bk.  v  (385  f.),  and 
the  long  interpolations  from  the  Corinthiaca  in  bk.  vi. 


BREACHES    OF   THE    HOUSE  1 23 

Priestly  Writer,  interposed;  and,  posterior  to  the 
exile,  there  was  a  final  redaction  of  the  whole  material, 
from  a  standpoint  akin  to  that  of  the  Priestly  Writer. 
As  always,  the  older  records  excel  in  spontaneity. 
While  it  cannot  be  said  that  "J"  (the  document 
which  uses  the  name  Yahweh  for  God)  and  "  E" 
(which  employs  the  term  "  Elohim  ")  accord  com- 
pletely in  outlook,  they  do  not  fall  under  the  domi- 
nation of  an  elaborate  theory,  like  the  Priestly 
Writer.  More  than  aught  else,  they  regard  religion 
as  a  natural  incident  of  human  life,  whereas  their 
successors  suffer  from  self-consciousness  of  its  divine 
institution,  and  spread  through  exclusive  channels 
of  revelation.  Besides,  the  redactors  attain  to 
authorship  in  the  current  sense  of  this  term;  their 
predecessors  are  rather  reporters  (of  story-tellers 
and  rhapsodes),  or  collectors  of  material  that  was  still 
fluid  in  oral  tradition.  Thus,  it  is  easy  to  distinguish 
the  Deuteronomist  and  the  Priestly  Writer  from  "J" 
and  "E,"  difficult  to  separate  "J"  from  "E,"  some- 
times impracticable. 

The  material  grouped  in  these  two  earliest  docu- 
ments, which  may  be  said  to  date  from  850  to  750  B.C., 
in  their  first  unified  forms  respectively,  often  goes 
behind  them,  refers  to  very  different  situations,  of 
which  few  accurate  details  are  now  recoverable,  and 


124     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS    IN    BELIEF 

is  certainly  of  most  unequal  value.  But,  on  the  whole, 
and  throughout,  we  find  ourselves  in  an  atmosphere 
controlled  by  imagination.  Poetry,  not  historical 
truth,  dictates  the  norms.  Not  till  Israel  had  actually 
won  foothold  in  Canaan,  can  it  be  said  that  history 
tends  to  replace  tradition.  For  example,  the  stories 
of  the  Creation  and  the  Flood  are  myths,  pure  and 
simple ;  moreover,  they  pertain  to  the  Semitic  race, 
not  to  the  Hebrew  moiety  of  it.  In  the  passage  con- 
taining Lamech's  'Song  of  the  Sword'  (Gen.  iv. 
19  f.)  we  have  obviously  a  very  primitive  tale,  and  a 
fragment  of  admirable  poetry.  Lamech's  sons  are 
represented  as  the  fathers  of  all  nomadic  shepherds, 
musicians,  and  workers  in  iron.  How  this  could  be, 
if  all  perished  in  the  Flood,  except  Noah,  the  farmer, 
the  writer  takes  no  notice.  Attracted  by  the  poetry, 
he  is  satisfied  to  adopt  the  folk  tale.  The  '  Song  of 
the  Weir  (Num.  xxi.  17)  introduces  another  ancient 
fragment,  which  a  people  living  in  settled  society 
could  scarcely  appreciate.  Of  a  different  character 
is  the  'Triumph  Song'  of  Deborah  and  Barak 
(Judges  v).  Here  we  have  a  pasan  of  victory  that 
may  well  revert  to  a  historical  occurrence  during  the 
first  invasion  of  Canaan.  Of  the  same  kind  are 
David's 'Elegies' over  Saul  and  Jonathan  (2  Sam.  i. 
17  f.)  and  on  Abner  (2  Sam.  iii.  ;^^).    They  belong 


BREACHES    OF   THE    HOUSE  I 25 

quite  plainly  to  the  class  of  poems  made  effective  by 
access  of  emotion,  that  is,  they  come  of  flesh  and  blood. 
Other  ancient  documents  may  be  noted  in  Jotham's 
'Fable'  (Judges  ix) ;  Samson's  'Riddles'  (Judges 
xiv.  14;  XV.  16) ;  David's  decision  regarding  the  spoil 
(i  Sam.  XXX.  24);  the  'Proverbs'  in  i  Sam.  x.  11, 
and  xxiv.  13.  Of  still  another  sort  are  the  cycles 
of  stories  (often  exhibiting  traces  of  rearrangement 
and  interpolation)  relating  to  the  patriarchs,  to 
Abraham,  Jacob,  Joseph,  and  so  on;  or  the  hero- 
tales,  about  Samson  and  the  youthful  David,  for 
instance.  The  former  limn  types,  constructed  from 
tribes  or  clans;  the  latter  emphasize  achievements 
of  men  whose  lives  fell  within  the  penumbra  of  the 
historical  period,  but  set  them  in  a  legendary,  almost 
epic,  perspective.  While,  again,  the  fragment  in 
Genesis  vi.  1-4,  introducing  the  Titans  (Nephilim), 
harks  back  to  a  stage  of  religion  so  remote  that  the 
narrator  has  lost  all  sense  of  its  implications.^  This 
example  may  serve  as  a  warning,  to  be  kept  in  mind 

'  Something  of  the  same  kind  may  be  traced  in  that  complex 
document,  the  "Blessing  of  Jacob"  (Genesis xlix),  if,  as  some  think, 
it  is  reminiscent  of  a  religion  in  which  the  signs  of  the  zodiac 
played  a  prominent  part.  (Joseph  is  Sagittarius,  Dan  is  Scorpio, 
and  so  on).  Even  if  this  be  tenable,  it  is  perfectly  obvious  that 
the  writer  knew  nothing  about  it,  never  had  such  possibilities  in 
mind. 


126    MODERN  THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

constantly,  that  the  documents  under  consideration 
often  tell  very  little,  because  their  authors  do  not 
themselves  appreciate  their  material.  Thus  Ishmael, 
Moab,  Rachel,  Leah,^  Hagar,  and  so  forth,  are  not 
persons,  but  the  names  of  clans  or  districts.  Simi- 
larly, Asher,  Gad,  Milcah,  Sarah,  and,  probably, 
Laban,  are  names,  not  of  men  and  women,  but  of 
gods  and  goddesses.  Of  course  this  amounts  to  a 
statement  that  the  documents,  instead  of  furnishing 
a  straightforward  history,  raise  numerous  and  com- 
plex problems.  Thus,  for  instance,  it  has  been  sug- 
gested that  the  story  of  Jacob's  encounter  with  the 
angel  is  a  very  faint  reminiscence  of  the  Nephilim. 
Jacob  was  a  Titan  once,  and  could  do  titanic  things. 
Now  he  has  become  a  mere  man,  but  with  this  sur- 
vival from  his  mythical  past  which,  naturally,  his 
present  biographer  fails  to  comprehend.  However 
this  may  be,  it  is  quite  evident  that  the  literature 
before  Josiah  offers  legend  chiefly;  and  the  his- 
torical parts,  post-dating  Israel's  settlement  in 
Canaan,  and  going  back  scarcely  beyond  Saul  or 
David,  have  been  subjected  to  a  process  of  idealiza- 

*  As  in  the  case  cited  in  the  previous  note,  Rachel  and  Leah 
suggest  a  totemism  from  which  meaning  has  faded  utterly  for 
the  writer.  In  other  words,  we  are  at  a  late  stage  in  the  develop- 
ment even  of  Semitic  religion,  to  say  nothing  of  universal  religion. 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  127 

tion  and  reconstruction;  so,  they  too  contain  a  large 
imaginative  factor. 

Accordingly,  the  conclusion  of  the  matter,  as 
concerns  the  early  literature,  may  be  summed  up 
as  follows.  Prior  to  the  Exodus  we  know  nothing; 
and  the  actors  mentioned  must  be  viewed  as  legendary 
figures.  The  sojourn  in  Egypt,  the  Exodus,  and  the 
migrations  in  the  wilderness  were  all  subjects  of  a 
persistent  tradition  in  Israel.  Very  possibly  they 
may  have  foundation  in  fact;  if  so,  what  did  happen 
differed  in  essentials  from  much  alleged  in  the  nar- 
rative. Nevertheless,  the  story,  as  we  have  it,  by  the 
light  it  throws  upon  Semitic  customs,  helps  us  to 
arrive  at  a  sober  view  of  the  probable  events.  Even 
Moses  must  be  taken,  in  great  part,  as  a  legendary, 
in  some  part,  as  a  mythical,  figure.  His  career  and 
acts  conform  to  certain  well-understood  social  and 
religious  characteristics  of  Semitic  nomad  clans, 
and,  to  this  extent,  can  be  rediscovered  and  systema- 
tized. ^  Beyond  this  general  setting  we  possess  no 
real  knowledge  of  Moses,  who  was,  not  a  man,  but 
an  idealized  epitome  thrown  back  by  a  later  age 
upon  a  supposititious  heroic  past,  its  own  creation. 

*  It  is  a  commonplace  that,  for  centuries  after  Moses'  alleged 
date,  the  Hebrews  shared  the  polytheism  of  adjacent  "Semitic 
heathenism."     Cf.  A  Sketch  of  Semitic  Origins,  George  A.  Barton. 


128    MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

And  after  the  conquest  of  Canaan  had  begun,  and 
!  ended,  so  far,  the  same  traits  persist.  David,  a 
brigand  sheik  originally,  is  clothed  upon  imagina- 
tively till  he  actually  becomes  a  vicegerent  of  Yahwdh. 
Or,  in  his  relation  of  the  narrative,  the  sympathies 
of  the  author,  with  the  northern  or  southern  kingdom, 
as  the  case  may  be,  transform  the  circumstances. 
Briefly,  as  in  ancient  literature  universally,  so  here, 
nobody  knows  anything  of  origins,  and,  when  history 
begins,  the  writers  evince  elementary  conscience 
for  accuracy.  Subjective  views  as  to  what  the  facts 
ought  to  have  been  render  an  objective  report  im- 
possible. In  the  circumstances,  nothing  else  could 
be  anticipated;  and  Israel  is  no  exception  to  the 
normal  human  rule,  nay,  affords  another,  and  very 
impressive,  proof. 

Nothing  in  the  Old  Testament  has  fallen  so  hope- 
lessly upon  the  evil  fate  of  false  representation  as 
the  prophetic  literature.  The  prophets,  from  Elijah, 
and  even  Samuel,  to  the  author  of  Daniel,  were 
riven  from  their  historical  position,  deported  to  a 
Hellenistic  provenance,  and  tricked  out  in  every  de- 
vice of  unlicenced  phantasy.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  Hebrew  prophet  was  a  man  who  could  discern 
the  signs  of  the  times,  rate  temporal  events  at  their 
value  sub  specie  ceternitatis,  and  speak  tQ  bis  genera- 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  1 29 

tion  accordingly.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he  believed 
himself  accredited  to  deliver  a  special  message;  but 
he  spoke  as  he  knew  and,  very  specially,  as  he  felt, 
in  a  certain  contingency.  Thus  his  work  always 
faced  two  ways.  On  the  one  hand,  he  had  a  clear 
eye  for  the  contemporary  circumstances  of  his  people ; 
on  the  other,  an  intuition  for  the  significance  of  re- 
ligion, as  affected  by  these  circumstances,  and  as 
capable  of  reaction  upon  them.  Consequently,  the 
prophetic  books  are  of  inestimable  price  for  compre- 
hension at  once  of  the  civil  history  and  the  religious 
evolution  of  the  Hebrews  in  these  days.  By  this 
relation  they  must  be  judged  and  interpreted. 

After  Solomon's  death,  the  Hebrew  empire  under- 
went immediate  dissolution;  the  division  into  two 
kingdoms,  Israel  in  the  north,  and  Judah  in  the 
south,  dates  from  937  B.C.  This  event  wrought 
momentous  results  in  two  ways.  It  undermined 
the  political  strength  of  the  Hebrews  once  for  all, 
and,  by  the  isolation  of  the  northern  kingdom  from 
the  incipient  religious  primacy  of  Jerusalem,  origi- 
nated conditions  favourable  to  the  continuance  of 
heathenism  within  Israel  itself.  Not  long  after 
their  foundation,  both  kingdoms  were  plundered 
by  the  powerful  Pharaoh  Shishak,  Judah  suffering 
more  severely.     This,  with  the  growth  of  commerce 

K 


130    MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE    CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

in  Israel,  led  to  the  dominance  of  the  northern  king- 
dom, and  Judah  made  alliance  with  Damascus. 
Meanwhile  a  new  political  situation  was  eventuating 
in  the  Euphrates-Tigris  region,  wHere  the  power 
of  Assyria  was  maturing  surely.  Ashurnatsirpal  III 
had  felt  strong  enough  to  attack  the  Arameeans  on 
the  head  waters  of  the  Euphrates,  and,  in  876,  took 
Carchemish,  the  capital  of  the  attenuated  Hittite 
kingdom.  This  was  contemporaneous  with  the 
rise  of  the  house  of  Omri  to  ascendancy  in  Israel, 
when  Samaria  became  the  capital;  and  Ahab,  the 
monarch  of  this  dynasty  notorious  unjustly  to  us, 
reigned  from  874  B.C.  Under  this  house  Judah 
was  reduced  to  vassalage.  In  the  interval,  the  As- 
syrians, under  Shalmaneser  II,  had  been  engaged 
with  Damascus,  which  headed  a  coalition  against 
them.  Ahab  contributed  no  less  than  2000  chariots 
and  10,000  men.  After  the  indecisive  battle  of  Qar- 
qar,  in  852,  he  loosed  himself  from  this  league,  and, 
about  the  same  period,  the  advance  guard  of  another 
great  migration  from  Arabia  (the  Nabatasan)  instilled 
fresh  ambition  into  Edom  and  Moab.  This  is  the 
era  in  which  the  prophet  Elijah  rebukes  the  idolatry 
of  Israel,  and  Elisha  proves  himself  a  dangerous 
agitator.  Thrice  Shalmaneser  attempted  to  break 
Damascus,  and  failed;    while  Judah,  weakened  by 


BREACHES    OF   THE    HOUSE  13I 

the  drain  of  men  and  treasure  required  from  a  vassal 
state,  fell  a  prey  to  a  Philistine-Cusliite  alliance,  thus 
affording  Mesha,  king  of  Moab,  opportunity  to  regain 
independence.  Instigated  by  Elisha,  Jehu  murdered 
the  whole  house  of  Omri,  except  young  Joash,  and, 
by  842,  was  tributary  to  Assyria.  But,  occupied 
with  the  Armenians  nearer  home,  Assyria  retired  for 
a  time,  and,  in  8io,  Joash  is  a  vassal  of  Damascus. 
Again  the  Assyrian  advanced,  Damascus  yielded 
tribute,  and  "  the  Lord  gave  Israel  a  saviour,  so  that 
they  went  out  from  under  the  hands  of  the  Syrians  " 
(2  Kings  xiii.  5).  These  centuries  of  unbroken 
confusion,  of  thrust  and  counterthrust,  could  not 
have  been  favourable  to  high  internal  development. 
It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  written  prophecy 
does  not  arise  till  later,  till  a  time,  that  is,  when  the 
Hebrews  could  rest  long  enough  to  consider  their 
position.  From  799  B.C.  events  bear  less  harshly 
upon  the  twin  kingdoms.  Jehoash  is  strong  enough 
to  worst  Benhadad  II,  and  Amaziah  to  take  the 
Edomite  capital.  By  784  Jeroboam  II  and  Uzziah, 
both  energetic  and  successful  rulers,  have  come  to  the 
thrones  of  Israel  and  Judah  respectively.  The  two 
countries  now  attain  a  prosperity  unexampled  since 
the  spacious  days  of  David  and  Solomon.  Damascus 
has  been  broken,  and  Assyria  is  too  engrossed  else- 


132     MODERN    THOUGHT    .\XD    THE    CRISIS    EN'    BELIEF 

where  to  interfere.     Just  at  this  juncture  the  full 
tide  of  Hebrew  prophecy  begins  to  flow. 

Amos  makes  his  startling  and  disconcerting  ap- 
pearance, to  warn  the  people  that  luxurious,  easy- 
going, almost  materialistic  worship  cannot  please  Yah- 
weh,  and  must  tumble  to  disaster.  The  God  is  a  just 
God,  who  hates  e\il,  loves  good,  and  ivUls  to  establish 
judgement  within  the  gate.  Forget  this,  his  funda- 
mental character,  and  you  prove  yourself  a  dupe 
to  the  mere  external  show  of  stability.  The  real 
fact  is  that  Yahweh  reigns  wherever  justice  runs, 
and  admits  no  special  obligation,  even  to  Israel, 
if  injustice  flourish  within  the  border.  Thus,  the 
monotheistic  %-iew  attains  definite  expression  only  at 
this  late  day.  The  idea  received  further  develop- 
ment in  the  message  of  Hosea,  for  whom  God  is  love, 
and  from  whose  pathetic  con\"iction  the  hituie  faiih 
of  Israel  sprouts.  Jeroboam  II  died  in  744 :  in  the 
short  space  of  eight  months,  Zechariah  and  Shallum 
were  murdered  and  Menahem  set  on  the  throne  — 
a  barbarous  despot.  Israel  was  rent  by  faction, 
and  Menahem  became  tributary  to  Ass}-ria.  Mean- 
while Judah  prospered  under  Jotham.  Faction 
wrought  further  anarchy  in  Israel;  Menahem's 
son.  Pekahiah,  was  murdered,  and  Pekah,  an  as- 
syrophobe,  ruled.     He  leagued  himself  with  Damascus 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  I33 

against  Tiglathpileser  III,  and  tried  to  force  Judah 
into  the  alliance.  Refusing,  Judah  was  invaded,  and, 
brought  to  dire  straits  by  the  rebellion  of  Edom 
and  an  invasion  of  the  Philistines,  appealed  to  As- 
syria. Tiglathpileser  advanced  to  the  rescue,  and 
plundered  Israel.  Pekah  was  murdered  by  his  own 
people,  and  Hoshea,  who  succeeded,  accepted  As- 
syrian suzerainty.  In  732  Tiglathpileser  took  Da- 
mascus, deported  its  inhabitants,  and  Palestine  enjoyed 
peace  for  six  years.  On  the  accession  of  Shalmaneser 
IV,  in  727,  Israel  joined  a  Syrian  league  in  revolt, 
and,  in  722,  the  northern  kingdom  came  to  an  end, 
on  the  fall  of  Samaria,  and  the  deportation  of  the 
directing  classes.  Israel  was  now  an  Assyrian  pro- 
vince, Judah  a  vassal  state.  These  were  the  days 
of  the  mighty  Sargon  and  of  the  mightier  Isaiah. 
Isaiah's  whole  outlook  was  conditioned  by  the 
contemporary  political  situation.  Israel  had  become 
a  memory  now,  and  Judah  might  be  snuffed  out 
unceremoniously  at  any  moment.  To  comprehend 
this  astounding  shock  to  Hebrew  expectation  and 
reminiscence,  a  new  philosophy  of  history  was  needed ; 
to  weather  temporal  danger  with  a  whole  skin  de- 
manded a  practical  policy.  Isaiah  furnished  both. 
Stated  in  a  word,  the  former  pivots  on  the  idea  that 
judgement  is  not  the  goal,  but  the  prerequisite  of 


134    MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE  CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

salvation.  This,  as  Isaiah  thought,  the  people  must 
be  forced  to  grasp,  so  that  a  remnant,  if  no  more, 
might  be  preserved  to  witness  for  essential  spiritual 
truth.  On  the  practical  side,  Assyria  is  to  him  but 
a  tool  in  the  hands  of  the  Almighty ;  therefore,  with 
Assyria  Judah  must  keep  strict  faith.  Mount  Zion, 
where  Yahweh  dwelleth,  cannot  be  violated,  must 
stay  inviolable.  Heedless  of  the  prophet,  Hezekiah 
listened  to  Egypt.  In  701  Sennacherib  descended 
with  a  veteran  army,  overwhelmed  the  Egyptians, 
and  decimated  Judah,  deporting  more  than  200,000 
souls.  Nevertheless,  Jerusalem  stood,  and  Isaiah 
was  justified  to  such  an  extent  that  Hezekiah  purified 
the  worship  of  the  temple  from  much  idolatrous 
admixture.  Their  contemporary,  Micah,  an  old- 
time  idealist  of  the  Amos  type,  poured  the  awful 
vials  of  his  wrath  upon  this  same  idolatry,  especially 
upon  the  social  conditions  wherein  it  rooted.  Then 
prophecy  fell  upon  silence.  The  Assyrian  guarantee 
was  to  suffice  for  a  little,  and  the  Assyrian  gods ! 

In  the  brilliant  era  of  Esarhaddon  and  Assurbani- 
pal,  when  Assyria  lorded  it  from  the  mountains  of 
Van  to  the  Nile,  Judah  could  hardly  fail  to  be  a  mere 
enclave  in  the  magnificent  empire.  And,  from  686 
B.C.,  when  Manasseh  came  to  the  throne,  it  proved  so. 
The  gods  of  Assyria  became  the  gods  of  the  Hebrew 


BREACHES    OF   THE    HOUSE  I35 

remnant,  and  prophecy,  being  a  plain  nuisance,  was 
stamped  out  fiercely.  The  sixth  and  seventh  chapters 
of  Micah  refer  to  this  leaden  period.  All  external 
supports  and  encumbrances  having  vanished,  the 
writer  appeals  to  the  still,  small  voice,  lending  proph- 
ecy the  purest  expression  yet  attained.  "He  hath 
showed  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good;  and  what  doth 
the  Lord  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to 
love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God?" 
(vi.  8).  No  Hebrew  speaks  here  to  a  backsliding 
folk,  but  a  man  utters  an  imperishable  thing  to  hu- 
manity. That  world  has  passed  long,  long  ago, 
with  the  pride  and  the  lust  thereof,  leaving  scarce 
a  wrack  behind,  but  these  words  ring  down  the  ages, 
as  absolutely  true  to-day  as  in  the  sad  hours  of  their 
first  utterance.  Never  was  a  man's  sense  for  ultimate 
values  to  be  vindicated  more  thoroughly.  Assyria's 
doom  dogged  her  already.  Another  widespread 
displacement  was  in  process,  this  time  in  Central 
Asia  —  the  Scythian  horsemen  had  saddled.  The 
Dies  Irae  of  Zephaniah  (i.  14  f.)  neared  dawn,  judge- 
ment had  been  entered  against  Manasseh's  line  and 
sin.  Nahum  and  Habakkuk  divine  the  catastrophe 
of  proud,  cruel  Assyria.  "The  burden  of  Nineveh  " 
(Nah.  i.  i) ;  "shall  he  not  spare  to  slay  the  nations 
continually?"    (Hab.    i.   17.)     Jeremiah,    the   inter- 


136    MODERN  THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

cesser  with  Yahwdh  for  his  own  erring  people,  also 
appears  in  the  land.  And  by  620  B.C.  the  Scythians 
have  swept  past  Nineveh,  and  swarmed  into  the 
littoral  of  Palestine. 

Manasseh  had  died  in  647,  and  after  Anion's  mur- 
der, at  the  end  of  a  two  years'  reign,  the  child  Josiah 
had  been  placed  on  the  throne.  In  his  minority, 
under  the  assyrophile  court  clique,  idolatry  went 
from  bad  to  worse.  At  length  the  pietistic  party 
ventured  to  send  a  book  of  the  law,  discovered  in 
the  temple,  to  the  king,  now  a  youth  of  twenty-four, 
whom  it  moved  profoundly.^  This  document,  our 
Deuteronomy,  marked  a  fresh  epoch  in  Hebrew 
religion.  A  new  worship,  centralized  at  Jerusalem, 
and  a  new  god  almost,  who  bore  no  natural  relation 
to  this  present  evil  world,  were  introduced.  Religion 
was  evaporated  from  its  intimate  union  with  the 
body  of  the  civil  state,  and  set  apart  as  a  holy  essence. 
A  point  of  view  had  come  to  clear  consciousness, 
whence  the  entire  past  of  Israel  could  be  considered 
and  reinterpreted :  lights  could  be  heightened,  shad- 
ows deepened,  according  to  a  firmly  set  belief  in  a 
peculiar,  divine  purpose.     The  prophet  had  blazed 

'  His  reference  of  the  matter  to  the  spae-wife  Huldah  is  typical 
of  the  conceptions  of  science  at  that  time  (cf.  2  Kings  xxii. 
12,  2  Chronicles  xxxiv.  20  f.). 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  137 

the  way  for  the  priest.  Issues  most  momentous 
for  the  preservation  of  the  rehgion  of  Israel,  no 
matter  what  temporal  mischances  might  befall, 
were  settled  at  nigh  a  stroke.  With  this  reversal, 
an  outgrowth  of  Assyrian  success,  and  of  a  reaction 
against  heathen  customs  when  the  political  power 
of  the  conqueror  declined,  the  literature  to  Josiah 
ends. 

Josiah's  new-bom  devotion  to  Yahw6h,  coincident 
with  the  removal  of  the  Assyrian  yoke,  profited  him 
little.  The  Pharaoh  Necho  invaded  the  land;  the 
righteous  king  met  defeat  and  death  in  another  fight 
at  Megiddo,  that  cockpit  of  Palestine.  The  last 
scene  in  this  act  of  the  drama  ended  in  even  worse 
disaster;  for  the  Chaldaean,  Nebuchadnezzar,  now 
monarch  of  the  new  Babylonian  empire  which  suc- 
ceeded Assyria,  took  Jerusalem  by  storm,  in  586  B.C., 
and  on  three  several  occasions  the  flower  of  the  popu- 
lation was  deported  to  the  Euphrates-Tigris  valley, 
there  to  learn  much  from  Babylonian  and  Persian 
civilization. 

It  seems  superfluous  to  enforce  the  conclusion 
that,  as  a  result  of  the  historico-critical  method,  the 
traditional  conceptions  of  the  "mission  of  Israel," 
of  the  nature  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  of  the  rela- 
tion of  Jewish  religion  to  Christianity, 


138     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

"  Are  melted  into  air,  into  thin  air  .  .  . 
.  .  .  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  "  a  "  vision." 

Doubtless,  it  is  still  possible  to  flout  the  critic,  and  say, 
"he's  of  a  most  facinerious  spirit."  But,  whatever 
his  reputed  atrocities,  names  neither  hurt,  nor  alter 
the  facts.  One  of  the  most  spiritually  minded  of 
living  scholars,  a  man  persuaded  slowly,  by  stress 
of  evidence,  to  pass  from  supposition  to  knowledge, 
has  placed  himself  on  record  as  follows :  — 

"  And  now  I  must  make  an  admission  to  you,  which 
it  is  hard  for  me  to  make,  but  which  is  my  fullest 
scientific  conviction,  based  upon  the  most  cogent 
grounds,  that  in  the  sense  in  which  the  historian 
speaks  of  "knowing,"  we  know  absolutely  nothing 
about  Moses.  All  original  records  are  missing; 
we  have  not  received  a  line,  not  even  a  word,  from 
Moses  himself,  or  from  any  of  his  contemporaries: 
even  the  celebrated  Ten  Commandments  are  not 
from  him,  but,  as  can  be  proved,  were  written  in 
the  first  half  of  the  seventh  century,  between  700 
and  650  B.C.  The  oldest  accounts  we  have  of  Moses 
are  five  hundred  years  later  than  his  time."  ^ 

This,  and  much  like  it,  being  admitted  unavoidably, 
the  keystone  has  fallen  from  the  arch  of  the  impressive 
and  imperious  theological  construction:  we  have 
not    "Moses    to    father."     In    these    circumstances, 

'  C.  H.  Cornill,  in  The  Prophets  of  Israel,  p.  17  (Eng.  trans.). 


BREACHES    OF    THE    HOUSE  1 39 

but  a  single  moral  need  be  pointed.  The  ignorant 
and  the  dogmatic,  be  they  laity  or  clergy,  cannot 
learn  too  soon  that,  as  matters  stand,  scholarship 
alone  is  able  to  reply  to  scholarship.  A  complete 
transformation  has  overtaken  us,  and  the  sole  course 
is  to  face  the  judgement  without  reservation.  This 
at  least  spells  sincerity  —  always  a  firm  ally  of  safety 
when  the  final  reckoning  arrives. 

In  the  nature  of  the  case,  I  have  been  able  to 
furnish  only  the  merest  impressionistic  sketch  of  the 
historico-critical  attitude  to  the  Old  Testament. 
Nevertheless,  it  suffices  to  convey  a  very  definite  set 
of  inferences. 

Note. — The  following  works  are  readily  available  for  readers 
of  English  who  wish  to  pursue  the  subject  farther.  A  History 
of  Egypt,  J.  H.  Breasted;  History  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  H. 
Winckler  and  J.  A.  Craig;  The  Early  History  of  Syria  and  Pales- 
tine, L.  B.  Paton;  An  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  Old 
Testament,  S.  R.  Driver  (Scribner,  New  York) ;  The  Genesis 
of  Genesis,  B.  W.  Bacon;  Triple  Tradition  of  the  Exodus,  B.  W. 
Bacon  (Macmillan  Co.,  New  York) ;  The  Documents  of  the 
Hexateuch  (two  vols.),  W.  E.  Addis  (David  Nutt,  London) ; 
The  Legends  of  Genesis,  H.  Gunkel  (Open  Court  Co.,  Chicago) ; 
the  Old  Testament  Articles  in  the  Encyclopcedia  Biblica  (Macmil- 
lan Co.),  or  in  Hastings'  Dictionary  of  the  Bible  (Scribner). 


LECTURE   IV 

HUMILIATION   IN   THE   MIDST 

Divergent  opinions  on  minor  points,  and  on  several 
important  internal  problems,  such,  for  example,  as 
the  origin  and  organization  of  the  Psalter,  admitted, 
it  may  be  affirmed,  fairly  enough,  that  scholars  agree 
on  their  solution  of  the  Old  Testament  riddle.  The 
historico-critical  movement  has  triumphed  all  along 
the  line  here.  Still,  even  so,  many,  especially  in 
English-speaking  lands,  fondle  the  idea  that  New 
Testament  study  walks  the  old  paths,  and  that  thus, 
criticism  notwithstanding,  the  citadel  of  dogmatic 
Christianity  maintains  itself  inviolable.  But  when 
one  comes  to  inquire  what  the  leaders  of  the  his- 
torico-critical movement  have  to  record  about  the 
Christian  sacred  books,  one  discovers  very  soon  that 
this  confidence  lacks  solid  foundation.  So  much  so 
that  "the  inhabitant  of  Maroth"  may  well  wait 
"  anxiously  for  good :  because  evil  is  come  down  .  .  . 
unto  the  gate  of  Jerusalem."  Moreover,  his  per- 
plexity must  increase  when  he  reflects  upon  a  fact 
that  events  often  conspire  to  hide  from  him.  Doubt- 
less he  has  heard,  in  a  general  way,  of  the  "attack  on 

140 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  I41 

the  New  Testament,"  and  his  teachers,  true  to  a 
sadly  mistaken  sense  of  duty,  have  informed  him 
that  all  this  amounts  to  'scepticism.'  It  were  perti- 
nent, therefore,  to  set  in  the  forefront  that  critical 
discussion  of  the  New  Testament  is  no  more  identical 
with  'scepticism'  to-day  than  the  conclusions  of  the 
scientific  consciousness  are  indistinguishable  from 
*  materialism.'  For  the  main  volume  of  this  inquiry 
proceeds  from  Christian  scholars,  from  members  of 
the  Christian  ministry  as  a  rule.  These  investigators 
seek  a  more  adequate  knowledge  of  the  growth  and 
development  of  faith  in  Christ.  /\.bove  all,  they  de- 
sire to  strip  our  religion  of  accretions  from  non- 
Christian  sources,  and  to  trace  the  transformations 
wrought  by  this  admixture.  In  addition,  we  must 
call  to  mind  that  the  natural  concentration  of  New 
Testament  study  in  the  hands  of  professing,  and 
often  official.  Christians,  has  resulted  in  a  situa- 
tion far  different  from  'scepticism,'  or  anything 
that,  in  common  justice,  can  be  termed  'scepti- 
cism.' Indeed,  the  chief  preliminary  consideration 
issues  from  this  very  circumstance. 

3.    The  New  Testament 

The  Old  Testament  contains  the  socio-religious 
record  of  an  alien  race,  of  a  people  whose  faith  is  not 


142     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS    IN    BELIEF 

ours,  who  continue  strangers  to  several  transitive 
principles  that  permeate  the  Christian  consciousness 
through  and  through.  Accordingly,  it  may  be 
treated  with  a  certain  independence  and  objectivity 
possible  with  respect  to  the  New  Testament  only  at 
the  end  of  long,  tentative  trial,  involving  bitter 
conflict.  Moreover,  in  the  one  case  far  more  easily 
than  in  the  other,  the  scholar  rids  himself  of  the 
iteration  of  the  still,  small  voice  that  whispers.  What 
is  left  ?  With  incomparably  less  inhibition,  he  finds 
himself  able  to  ask.  What  have  we  here?  As  a 
consequence,  the  historico-critical  account  of  the 
Old  Testament  possesses  a  clear  outline,  and  com- 
mands a  general  assent  by  no  means  reached  as  yet 
for  the  New.  Particularly  is  this  true  about  those 
matters  of  apparent  detail  which  in  sum,  despite 
their  subordinate  character,  affect  the  larger  outlook 
deeply.  An  Episcopalian,  just  because  he  is  an 
Episcopalian;  a  Presbyterian,  just  because  he  is  a 
Presbyterian;  a  Baptist,  just  because  he  is  a  Baptist; 
a  Roman  CathoHc,  just  because  he  is  a  Roman  Cath- 
olic, approaches  the  New  Testament  with  special  pre- 
possessions on  special  points.  Similar  considerations 
touch  Old  Testament  inquiry  much  less;  on  the 
contrary,  they  conspire  to  prejudge  interpretation  of 
the  New.     Besides,   all  confessional  Christians,  so 


HUMILIATION   IN    THE    MIDST  1 43 

far  as  their  "written  constitutions"  go,  agree  to  view 
the  New  Testament  from  a  doctrinal  rather  than 
a  historical  standpoint.  Needless  to  say,  this  fact 
has  wielded,  and  still  wields,  incalculable  influence. 
Thus,  for  many  causes  that  we  cannot  expect  to  es- 
cape yet  awhile,  the  Christian  books  must  remain 
subjects  of  controversy;  differences  bom  of  senti- 
ment must  occupy  the  foreground,  very  Hkely  out  of 
proportion  to  their  primary  importance;  views  upon 
matters  of  fact  must  continue  to  be  tinctured  with 
conjectural  elements. 

No  better  illustration  of  these  obvious  conditions 
could  be  wished  than  the  reception  accorded,  eleven 
years  ago,  to  Harnack's  famous  preface,^  where  he 
affirmed  that  criticism  was  moving  back  gradually 
to  "traditional  standpoints."  Excitement  electrified 
many;  one  heard  on  every  side  that  Strauss  and 
Tubingen  had  been  put  to  ruinous  flight,  that  the 
position  had  been  saved  for  the  entire  array  of  eccle- 
siastical dogma.  On  the  other  hand,  one  did  not 
hear  that,  on  close  examination  in  detail,  the  con- 
clusions of  the  Berlin  master  agreed  with  those  of 
criticism  on  nigh  all  points  of  fundamental  im- 
portance.    For  him,  as  for  the  "evicted"  critics,  the 

^  Prefixed  to  vol.  i,  part  ii,  of  his  Chronologic  der  altchrisf- 
lichen  Literatur. 


144     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

author  of  the  First  Gospel  was  unknown;  the  author- 
ship of  the  Third  was  "purely  a  problem  of  internal 
criticism,"  and  therefore  a  matter  of  opinion  more  or 
less;  the  Apostle  John  was  not  the  author  of  the 
Fourth  Gospel,  and  so  on.  Commenting  on  this, 
one  of  the  sanest  among  New  Testament  critics 
says:  "To  me,  however,  this  new  cult  for  the  'tradi- 
tion'—  by  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  Harnack 
understands  something  quite  different  from  the  '  tra- 
dition '  of  Zahn  ^  and  his  followers  —  seems  quite  as 
questionable  as  the  earlier  prejudice  against  it."  ^ 
And  Harnack  himself  supports  this  contention  in  the 
preface  to  a  recent  study.  "I  saw  myself  brought 
forward  as  a  witness  to  testify  that  in  historical  criti- 
cism we  are  returning  to  the  conservative  point  of 
view.  I  am  not  responsible  for  this  misapprehen- 
sion of  my  position.  .  .  .  Let  me,  therefore,  express 
now  my  absolute  conviction  that  historical  criticism 
teaches  us  ever  more  clearly  that  many  traditional 
positions  are  untenable  and  must  give  place  to  new 
and  startling  discoveries."  ^  We  may  conclude,  ac- 
cordingly, that  although,  thanks  to  peculiar  and 
irremovable    circumstances    besetting    the    inquiry, 

^  The  most  prominent  conservative  critic. 

*  An  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament,  A.  Jiilicher,  p.  27. 

^  Preface  to  Lukas  dcr  Arzt  (written  in  May,  1906). 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  I45 

some  New  Testament  questions,  particularly  as 
they  pertain  to  specialized  problems,  stand  in  con- 
troversy, a  partial  consensus  begins  to  emerge. 
Without  condescending  upon  extreme  positions,  let 
us  try  to  understand  what  this  conveys. 

In  the  first  place,  and  generally,  the  New  Testa- 
ment cannot  be  treated  as  a  hook.  It  contains  a 
literature  composed  at  intervals  during  a  period  of 
130  years  approximately.  Twenty-seven  contribu- 
tions, of  the  most  varied  character,  occur  in  it.  We 
know  that  they  were  written  by  ten  or  twelve  persons 
at  the  lowest  calculation;  but  how  many  others  had 
a  hand  in  the  library  as  it  exists  now  we  have  no 
present  means  of  determining.  It  is  apposite  to 
recall  in  this  connexion,  for  example,  that  the  canon 
of  four  Gospels  was  probably  substituted  for  one 
Gospel  under  suspicious  circumstances,  and  that  one 
document,  in  any  case,  was  subjected  to  mutilation 
for  reasons  that  had  nothing  to  do  with  its  historical 
value.  As  they  stand  in  our  EngHsh  Bible,  the  New 
Testament  writings  disregard  chronological  sequence, 
and  this  in  itself  has  produced  numerous  misconcep- 
tions. Of  course,  interpolations,  additions,  and  cor- 
rections are  nowhere  indicated,  so  that  he  who  runs 
may  read.  It  is  clear,  however,  that,  taking  46  a.d. 
as  an  upper,  and  175  a.d.  as  a  lower,  limit,  the  con- 


146     MODERN   THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

stituent  portions  were  produced  much  in  the  same 
way  as  other  human  documents.  They  reflect  one 
religious  movement  among  many,  but  a  movement 
peculiar  on  account  of  its  intensity,  its  missionary 
spirit,  and  its  powerful  syncretist  tendency;  never- 
theless, a  movement  that  originated  and  spread  under 
historical  conditions  characteristic  of  the  Roman 
Empire  at  the  time,  especially  as  they  related  (i)  to 
the  region  of  Asia  Minor,  including  Palestine,  (2)  to 
the  Jewish  Diaspora,  (3)  to  the  promiscuous  religious 
consciousness,  marked  by  elements  drawn  from 
Hellenistic  thought,  Jewish  theocracy,  and  Oriental 
apocalyptic  vision,  all  interacting.  The  entire 
temper  of  the  period,  especially  in  its  Semitic  and 
Oriental  qualities,  is  so  foreign  to  the  ethos  of  West- 
ern peoples  that,  more  than  likely,  many  phenomena 
must  elude  our  grasp  always.  Nevertheless,  such 
light  as  is  possible  can  break  through  in  one  way  only. 
We  must  study  the  Roman  imperial  polity,  religion, 
and  local  government,  Hellenistic  ideas,  the  Oriental 
gnostic  spirit,  the  unique  position  of  the  Jewish 
race,  and  the  whole  social  situation,  primarily  as 
moulded  by  slavery  and  by  the  intermixture  of 
ancient  cultures,  if  we  would  realize,  even  faintly, 
the  remarkable  flurry  of  events  whence  the  books 
arose.    Written  by  men  in  a  world  of  men,  they  are 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  1 47 

tractable  to  explanation  as  a  supremely  human 
attempt  to  alter  or  disprove,  to  destroy  or  understand, 
some  supernal  things  of  life  as  it  seemed  then.  What 
we  know  of  the  epoch,  what  we  can  ascertain  by 
historical  and  linguistic  analysis,  or  by  chronological 
research,  serves  here,  as  elsewhere,  to  reduce  the 
conglomerate  facts  to  dynamic  order. 

Critically  viewed,  then,  the  New  Testament  origi- 
nated in  what  may  be  pictured  as  three  great  waves  of 
production.  In  each  successive  sweep  it  is  possible 
to  discern  elements  that  preserve  continuous  identity, 
and  thus  to  elicit  the  primitive  tradition  that  nucleated 
after  the  appalling  disaster  of  the  Crucifixion.  At 
the  same  time,  civilization  seethed  so  in  the  chief  age 
of  composition  that  alterations  of  standpoint,  and 
even  some  of  their  causes,  can  be  detected.  Con- 
trasts in  the  circumstances  and  characters,  in  the 
ability,  training,  and  associations  of  the  individual 
authors  count  for  much.  And,  very  plainly,  the 
migration  of  the  new  teaching,  first,  from  its  home 
in  Galilee  to  Jerusalem,  and  then  from  its  Judaistic 
limits  into  the  monstrous  whirlpool  of  Roman- 
Hellenistic  culture,  wrought  profoundly.  We  must 
envisage  the  possibilities,  latent  amid  these  emigra- 
tions, in  some  such  way  as  we  think  of  the  very  subtle 
variations  that  overtook  the  English  ethos,  first,  in 


148    MODERN  THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

old  New  England,  then  in  the  broad  United  States. 
The  resultant  differences,  that  is,  pivot  upon  a  con- 
trasted manner  of  approach  to  problems  which 
themselves  undergo  no  total  change.  But,  elusive 
as  they  are,  in  the  modern  instance,  we  know  well 
enough  how  to  set  about  an  explanation.  To  this 
procedure  the  ancient  world  is  amenable,  mutatis 
mutandis,  and  to  no  other. 

Accordingly,  pursuant  to  this  method,  the  first 
period  of  Christian  authorship  dates  from  the  earli- 
est Letters  of  Paul  (Galatians,  46  a.d.)^  to  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem  by  Titus  in  70  a.d.  Within 
these  twenty  to  twenty-five  years  some  documents  of 
vast  moment  for  the  Christian  consciousness  came  to 
birth.  Plainly,  the  Pauline  writings  form  by  far  the 
most  important  group.  In  the  present  state  of 
knowledge,  I  understand  it  to  be  as  sure  as  assurance 
can  go  regarding  such  matters,  that  the  four  major 
Epistles  (Romans,  Galatians,  i  and  2  Corinthians) 
belong  to  this  era,  and  that  the  other  Letters, 
except  the  Pastorals,  Ephesians,  part  of  Colos- 
sians,  and  2  Thessalonians  are  to  be  attributed  to 
Paul.     To  this  view  some  scholars  would  demur.^ 

^  Of  course,  46  is  extravagantly  early  for  Galatians;  50-54 
would  cover  the  usual  datings. 

^  It  does  not  seem  to  me  that  the  views  of  van  Manen,  Steck,  and 
Professor  Smith,  of  Tulane  University,  can  be  entertained  seriously. 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  1 49 

So  far  as  I  am  able  to  judge,  many  questions  con- 
cerning the  Pauline  documents  must  be  regarded 
as  suh  judice.  To  this  time  also  one  may  assign 
the  collection  of  Sayings  of  Jesus,  used  by  the 
Synoptists,  especially  by  the  author  of  our  Gospel 
of  Matthew.  If  the  writer  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  enjoyed  documentary  sources,  —  a  prob- 
lem still  disputed  hotly,  —  then  his  oldest  source,  the 
so-called  "We"  document  (xvi.  10-17;  xx.  4-15; 
xxi.  1-18;  xxvii.  i-xxviii.  16),  must  be  referred  to 
this  period.  Finally,  the  Jewish  apocalypses,  rooted 
in  ancient  and  obscure  eschatological  saga  of  the 
Semites,^  used  by  the  author  of  the  Revelation, 
such,  for  example,  as  the  astounding  allegory  repro- 
duced in  chapter  xii  (cf.  xi-xiii;  xvii-xviii),  were 
composed,  in  all  likelihood,  before  the  final  cata- 
clysm at  the  holy  city. 

The  second  period  dates  from  the  fall  of  Jerusalem 
to  (roughly)  the  death  of  Nerva,  in  98  a.d.  Like  the 
first,  it  produced  documents  of  the  utmost  moment. 
To  this  time  belong  the  Synoptic  Gospels.  Mark 
came  almost  immediately  after  the  victory  of 
Titus;    Luke     is    dependent    upon    Mark;    while 

*  So  great  is  the  difficulty  of  this  subject  that  eminent  scholars, 
like  Dietrich,  Gunkel,  Spitta,  Eduard  Meyer,  and  W.  Bousset, 
have  been  able  to  effect  little  more  than  a  beginning  of  interpre- 
tation:   dogmatic  exegesis  is  out  of  the  question. 


150     MODERN   THOUGHT    AND   THE    CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

Matthew,  which  has  been  edited  more  than  once, 
provides  an  account  palatable  to  all  Christians,  and 
the  additions  that  enrich  it  represent  a  late  stratum} 
But,  in  any  case,  redaction,  interpolation,  and 
excision  aside,  the  general  outline  of  the  books,  as 
we  have  them,  was  settled  during  this  generation,  and 
especially  the  ideas  that  dominated  their  composition 
had  cr}^stallized.  The  literature  of  this  epoch  in- 
cludes also  the  work  of  one  of  the  three  great  theolo- 
gians of  the  New  Testament  —  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews.  The  authorship  remains  an  insoluble 
problem;  I  am  unable  to  see  how  it  is  possible  to 
overcome  objections  to  the  current  opinion  which 
connects  the  Letter  with  the  name  of  Barnabas. 

^  E.g.  i-ii;  iv.  14-16;  xiv;  xvi-xvii;  xxi.  2-5;  xxvii.  3-10; 
xxvii.  62-xxviii.  20.  Although  I  am  without  shadow  of  title  to 
express  an  'expert'  opinion  upon  the  Synoptic  problem,  I  think 
that  an  unprejudiced  man,  who  has  read  the  literature  carefully, 
may  come  to  the  following  conclusions,  which  I  record  with  all 
diffidence.  It  seems  to  me,  on  these  Gospels,  as  we  have  them, 
that  (i)  Mark  is  the  objective  source  of  Matthew  and  Luke  ;  (2) 
Matthew  and  Luke  presuppose  other  documentary  sources,  pos- 
sibly unknown  to  Mark,  but  how  these  ought  to  be  rated  or 
described  precisely  1  find  myself  quite  unable  to  say;  (3)  never- 
theless, there  is  a  long  and  tangled  history  prior  to  Mark,  in 
which  Palestinian  and  Pauline  influences  interact;  (4)  Luke  did 
not  use  Matthew  as  a  source,  nor  Matthew  Luke;  (5)  Matthew 
and  Luke  were  affected  by  streams  of  tradition  in  the  Christian 
community  that  differed  in  some  particulars ;  (6)  all  the  Synoptics 
have  been  worked  over  —  Mark  like  the  others. 


Humiliation  in  the  midst  151 

Another  remarkable  document  of  this  time  is  the 
Revelation  of  St.  John  the  Divine.  It  offers  a 
recension  of  Jewish  apocalyptic  sources,  brilliantly 
elaborated;  the  authorship  cannot  be  determined 
with  any  certainty.  All  we  can  say  is  that  probably 
John  the  Apostle  did  not  compose  it.^  The  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  which  still  presents  in  many  re- 
spects one  of  the  enigmas  of  the  New  Testament, 
must  also  be  assigned  to  these  years.  Perhaps  it 
belongs  to  the  reign  of  Domitian  (81-96),  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  may  date  after  the  death  of  Nerva, 
and  be  referable,  accordingly,  to  the  first  decade 
of  Trajan.  In  any  case,  these  last  years  furnish 
I  Peter. 

The  final  period,  from  the  accession  of  Trajan  till, 
say,  Marcus  Aurelius's  assumption  of  sole  power 
(161  A.D.),  provides  one  document  of  the  first  magni- 
tude —  the  Fourth  Gospel.  In  my  humble  judge- 
ment, this  must  be  accounted,  for  several  reasons, 
the  pearl  of  great  price  of  the  New  Testament.  As 
in  the  case  of  its  lesser  companion,  Hebrews,  the 
question  of  authorship  has  baffled  investigation. 
Scholars  are  agreed,  however,  that  it  cannot  be 
assigned  to  John  the  Apostle.     And  one  may  as  well 

*  This  is  widely  disputed  still;  I  give  my  own  impression  of 
the  evidence. 


152     MODERN  THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

mention,  in  passing,  that  this  is  an  immense  gain. 
For,  if  the  two  companions  of  Jesus,  Mark  (through 
Peter)  and  John,  had  furnished  such  utterly  irre- 
concilable accounts  of  the  Master,  —  contrast  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  with  the  Johannine  dis- 
courses,—  it  would  be  impossible  for  us  to  determine 
what  manner  of  man  he  ^  was  in  his  habit  upon 
earth.  Before  the  year  120  a.d.  come  the  Epistles 
of  John,  followed  by  Jude,  and  the  Pastoral 
Epistles  (i  and  2  Timothy,  and  Titus).  The  latest 
books  in  the  New  Testament  canon  are  the 
Letter  of  James,  and  2  Peter,  which  may  bring 
us  down  as  far  as  150,  or  even  175,  a.d.  I  may  add 
that,  on  the  whole,  this  summary  tends  in  the  con- 
servative direction,  as  critical  opinion  now  goes. 

The  most  careless  reader  of  even  the  English 
version  cannot  fail  to  observe  that  extraordinary 
contrasts  pervade  this  literature.  The  Revelation 
and  Mark  move  literally  in  dissimilar  universes. 
The  Acts  and  Hebrews  are  determined  by  motives 
of  the  most  diverse  nature.  And,  for  readers  of 
Greek,  what  a  difference  rules  the  verbal  habit 
of    the    two    great     anonymous    books,    Hebrews 

^  Perhaps  I  should  indicate  at  this  point  that  I  distinguish 
betwteen  Jesus,  who  was  a  historical  figure,  and  Christ,  Who  is 
metahis.+orical. 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  1 53 

and  the  Revelation.  Nay,  more,  these  contrasts, 
appearing  on  the  surface,  as  they  do,  are  nothing  to 
the  profounder  appositions  traceable  to  general  per- 
spective, literary  facility,  spiritual  discernment,  and 
regnant  personal  tendency.  And,  in  every  case,  these 
last  constitute  main  factors  in  the  reasons  why  the 
books  came  to  be  written  at  all.  Notwithstanding, 
it  seems  practicable  to  group  the  stars  of  the  first 
magnitude  by  reference  to  the  contemporary  condi- 
tion of  the  Christian  atmosphere. 

When  we  approach  a  literature  from  the  side  of 
strict  history,  the  question  of  convergent,  formative 
influences  always  commands  paramount  attention. 
To  understand  a  book,  we  must  know  something  of 
the  forces  that  played  around  and  upon  its  author. 
Nor  is  the  reason  far  to  seek.  A  writer  never  sits 
down  to  record  everything  —  the  task  transcends 
possibility.  Of  necessity,  his  views  and  conclusions 
are  formulated  in  synoptic  fashion.  He  picks  and 
chooses,  not  indeed  to  induce  a  specious  effect,  but 
because  he  cannot  proceed  in  any  other  way.  The 
crowded,  insignificant  details  of  human  life  must  not 
be  permitted  to  swamp  the  narrative ;  the  mere  surge 
of  them  would  drown  affairs  of  real  moment.  So, 
without  exception,  a  meritorious  writer  takes  for 
granted  that  his  public  shares  a  common  perspective. 


154     MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

He  lets  the  reader  perform  his  part,  anticipates  this 
abihty  in  him.  Of  course,  many  fail  to  realize  this, 
because  unaccustomed  to  reflect  upon  such  matters. 
But  an  elementary  acquaintance  with  classical 
literature,  for  example,  suffices  to  bring  it  home 
forcibly.  We  cannot  appreciate  the  comedies  of 
Aristophanes  just  as  the  Athenian  audience  did;  we 
find  it  difficult  to  make  allowance,  in  Herodotus,  for 
the  pervasive  conception  of  a  working  Nemesis; 
we  miss  not  a  little  of  the  verisimilitude  of  the 
speeches  in  Thucydides;  many  details  concerning 
Caesar's  army  continue  to  elude  us;  it  demands 
careful  study  to  realize  the  socio-political  atmosphere 
breathed  by  Tacitus.  Nay,  the  same  holds  true  of 
literature  that  stands  comparatively  near.  A  novel 
like  Vernon  Lee's  "Miss  Brown,"  a  play  like  "The 
Colonel,"  presented  so  cleverly  by  Edgar  Bruce, 
presuppose  the  so-called  esthetic  craze  in  England 
thirty  years  ago ;  and  we  must  refresh  our  memories 
by  reference  to  Gilbert  and  Sullivan's  "Patience," 
if  we  would  enter  into  the  situation.  Be  they  great 
or  small,  literary  products,  having  the  slightest  pre- 
tension to  significance,  require  us  to  remember  this. 
The  New  Testament  writings  form  no  exception 
to  the  rule.  When,  for  instance,  Mark  says,  "And 
they  compel  one  passing  by,  Simon  of  Cyrene,  com- 


HUMILIATION    IN   THE    MIDST  1 55 

ing  from  the  country,  the  father  of  Alexander  and 
Rufus,  to  go"  (xv.  21),  it  is  evident  he  assumes 
that  his  readers  will  recognize  these  personal  refer- 
ences —  this  local  and  contemporary  knowledge  fails 
us  entirely.  Recalling,  then,  that  all  authors  content 
themselves  with  hints  and  suggestions  respecting 
affairs  familiar  in  their  time,  we  find  that  the  New 
Testament,  taken  as  a  whole,  presupposes  two  audi- 
ences, and  therefore  two  circles  of  origin.  Followers 
of  Jesus  constituted  both,  but  their  several  tempo- 
ral circumstances  happened  to  be  different.  The 
smaller,  more  highly  organized,  and  less  cosmopolitan 
group  had  its  centre  in  Palestine,  and  clung  to  Jerusa- 
lem as  the  foreordained  city  of  God.  It  was  domi- 
nated, accordingly,  by  ideas  current  among  the  Jews 
in  these  days,  and  by  a  conviction  that,  in  the  new 
religious  community,  the  long  travail  of  Israel  had 
attained  finahty  at  last  —  the  true  Messiah  had 
appeared,  lived,  paid  the  penalty,  and  ascended,  as 
the  Scriptures  prophesied.  Therefore  these  Scrip- 
tures, above  all,  the  Mosaic  Law,  were  held  of  pe- 
culiar moment  in  the  plan  of  salvation.  Apocalyptic 
expectations  abounded,  and  the  Messiah  might  re- 
turn at  any  hour,  to  execute  his  judgement,  to  claim 
his  kingdom,  to  inaugurate  his  world-rule.  Here 
we  find  an  impermm  in  imperio,  as  it  were;  a  special 


156     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

phenomenon,  aside  from  Roman-Hellenistic  civiliza- 
tion, concerned  to  preserve  its  own  traits  so  far  as 
possible,  even  under  the  heel  of  heathen  might. 

But,  emphasize  the  Jewish  purview  as  one  may, 
the  fact  remains  that  Roman-Hellenistic  culture  was 
the  universal  feature  of  the  age  —  the  very  disciples 
of  the  innermost  circle  answered  to  Greek  names. 
Antioch  and  Ephesus,  Rome  and  Alexandria,  typified 
influences  that  could  not  be  excluded  or  stayed.  So, 
as  Jesus  himself  journeyed  into  Phoenicia,  his  dis- 
ciples fared  forth  amid  the  perplexing  civilization  of 
the  wonderful  empire,  and  to  momentous  conse- 
quence. With  all  the  will  in  the  world,  the  Gentile 
could  not  treat  the  Scriptures  or  the  Law  as  if  he 
were  a  Jew  "to  the  manner  born."  His  apprehen- 
sion of  the  anticipated  apocalypse  could  not  but  take 
a  course  peculiar  to  itself.  His  appreciation  of  the 
significance  to  be  attached  to  Messiah's  career  and 
continued  spiritual  presence  was  coloured,  inevitably, 
by  associations  drawn  from  Grceco-Roman  or  Oriental 
traditions  in  culture.  More  than  aught  else,  per- 
haps, the  means  and  methods  of  his  education,  reach- 
ing back  to  the  age  of  the  Sophists,  and  transmitted 
through  a  series  of  glorious  intellectual  achieve- 
ments, destined  him  to  react  upon  the  plastic  faith 
in  very  distinctive  style.     Similarly,  a  Jew  resident 


HUMILIATION    IX    THE    MIDST  157 

in  Palestine,  by  the  mere  fact  of  his  Aramasic  dialect, 
would  diverge  widely  from  a  Greek-speaking  Gentile. 
His  direct  heritage  from  the  spiritual  past  of  his  folk, 
his  conventional  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  his 
inherent  unity  with  ancient  social  custom  and  moral 
observance,  his  racial  pride  and  expectation,  sur- 
rounded him  on  all  sides,  and  marked  out  the  old 
paths  wherein  he  ought  to  stand  fast.  Thus,  he  too 
caught  up  the  new  faith  in  a  way  manifestly  his  own. 
Now,  the  New  Testament  writers  presuppose  these 
contrasted,  yet  in  a  sense  complementary,  ethnic 
perspectives.  The  authors  assume  the  aptness 
which  would  be  evinced  naturally  by  readers  moulded 
in  one  or  the  other  environment.  By  no  means  "all 
things  to  all  men,"  they  assuredly  "write  up  to" 
some  things  in  some  men. 

Thus,  our  New  Testament  documents  range 
themselves  in  two  main  divisions.  First,  those 
which  sprang  from  the  culture-circle  of  Palestine,  and 
are  characterized  by  a  predominance  of  the  objective 
or  narrative  element,  though  by  no  means  to  the 
exclusion  of  other  tendencies.  Second,  those  which 
originated  in  face  of  Gentile  circumstances  and 
needs,  and  are  characterized  by  a  predominance  of 
an  idealizing  (sometimes  theologico-philosophical) 
movement,  though  by  no  means  to  the  exclusion  of 


158     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND    THE    CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

historical  references.  Necessarily,  a  common  tradi- 
tion, sadly  overlaid  and  obscured  in  the  canon, 
underlies  both.  The  first  group  finds  its  great 
exemplars  in  the  First  and  Second  Gospels,  and  in 
Revelation.  Of  lesser  moment  are  the  Epistles 
of  James  and  Jude.  The  chief  witnesses  of  the 
second  group  are  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  Hebrews, 
and  the  Fourth  Gospel,  with  the  Petrine  epistles  as 
subsidiary.  The  Third  Gospel  occupies  a  peculiar 
position.  On  its  objective  side  it  seems  to  belong 
with  the  Synoptics;  on  the  other  hand,  some  tincture 
from  Pauline  notions  has  flavoured  it.  But,  as  con- 
cerns Pauline  admixture,  the  presence  of  similar 
influences  in  Mark  serves  to  complicate  the  issue. 
I  find  it  impossible  to  speak  decisively  of  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles.  In  my  personal  opinion  —  which, 
pray  remember,  carries  no  weight  whatever  —  it  may 
be  regarded  as  standing  between  the  two  groups. 
That  is  to  say,  it  furnishes  a  partial  record  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  transition  from  the  narrower  to 
the  wider  environment  was  accomplished.  Never- 
theless, the  standpoint  of  its  author  indicates  sym- 
pathy more  with  the  imperial  than  with  the  Pales- 
tinian outlook. 

Thus,  whatever  document  we  traverse,  we  find 
the  New  Testament  writings  were  motivated  like 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  159 

other  books,  that  they  display  throughout  those  evi- 
dences of  the  universal  conditions  incident  to  literary 
composition  which  must  be  at  disposal  ere  we  can 
understand  or  interpret  written  works.  It  must  be 
perfectly  obvious  that  an  author  who  spoke  Greek, 
and  trafficked  with  Greek-speaking  neighbours,  who 
dwelt  where  the  temple-cult  of  Jerusalem  exercised 
no  direct  authority,  and  so  forth,  could  not  frame  his 
views  without  betraying  his  situation.  Only  after 
frank  reception  of  this  and  related  facts,  is  it  at  all 
possible,  at  our  late  day,  to  pierce  the  New  Testa- 
ment literature  so  as  to  arrive  at  the  tradition  em- 
bedded there.  The  Gospels,  the  Epistles,  and  the 
rest  — 

"  are  pilgrim-shrines, 
Shrines  to  no  code  or  creed  confined,  — 
The  Delphian  vales,  the  Palestines, 
The  Meccas  of  the  mind." 

And,  in  the  course  of  the  journey,  a  great  deal,  taken 
for  history  once,  falls  away.  Indeed,  the  first  con- 
sequences of  critical  enquiry  cannot  but  be  negative. 
Let  us  look  at  this  aspect  of  the  matter  for  a  moment. 
Take,  for  example,  the  central  figure,  and,  having 
submitted  the  New  Testament  evidence  to  critical 
examination,  ask.  What  do  we  know  about  Jesus 
historically  ?    If  we  set  aside  plausible  tales  that  fit 


l6o     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

easily  to  preconceived  and  explicable  notions,  the 
result  is  nothing  short  of  revolutionary  to  the  average 
man.  The  Gospels  contain  2899  verses;  of  these 
only  about  one  hundred  furnish  strict  biographical 
details.  Aside  from  the  record  of  the  last  days  at 
Jerusalem,  and  of  the  teaching,  our  information  about 
Jesus  and  his  doings  is  scanty  in  the  extreme.  The 
objective  facts  startle  by  their  omissions.  Not  only 
are  the  outlines  of  the  faintest,  but  definite  pronounce- 
ments are  few  and  far  between.  Moreover,  all  the 
accounts  are  at  second  hand,  and  present  amazing 
lacunar.  Thus,  the  extent  of  our  ignorance  becomes 
the  impressive  conclusion  of  criticism.  For  the  sake 
of  this  impression,  let  us  review  what  we  do  not 
know.  We  do  not  know  what  Jesus'  descent  was. 
We  do  not  know  the  year  of  his  birth.  We  do  not 
know  his  birthplace  for  certain.  Our  information 
about  his  family  is  of  the  most  incidental  nature. 
His  early  life,  his  manner  of  education,  the  whole 
formative  period  of  his  youth,  remain  unrecorded. 
Indeed,  save  for  the  single  incident  in  the  temple,  they 
are  matters  of  "reverie."  ^  We  know  nothing  inti- 
mately about  the  influences  which  led  to  the  develop- 
ment of  his  religious  genius,  for  his  exact  relation  to 

1  Cf.    The  Education  of  Christ:    Hillside  Reveries,    W.   M. 
Ramsay. 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  l6l 

John  the  Baptist  cannot  be  recovered.  We  are 
unaware  how  long  his  ministry  lasted.  We  do  not 
know  his  age  at  the  time  he  undertook  his  mission. 
"If  we  start  from  quite  critical  premises,  we  must 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  we  have  no  absolute 
certainty  that  any  single  saying  in  the  Gospels  was 
uttered  in  that  precise  form  by  Jesus  himself."  * 
Our  available  information  is  such  that  we  do  not 
know  what  the  Last  Supper  meant  to  Jesus.  "  Only 
one  thing  is  probably  certain,  that  at  the  original 
Supper  Jesus  did  not  mean  to  institute  a  sacrament 
in  the  Catholic,  Lutheran,  or  Calvinistic  sense."  ^ 
In  the  same  way,  we  are  unaware  what  Jesus  thought 
about  his  own  death.  "One  thing  only  is  certain, 
that  Jesus  never  conceived  or  expressed  the  thought 
that  God's  forgiveness  of  sins  depended  absolutely 
upon  his  own  sacrificial  death  or  upon  the  vicarious 
atonement  rendered  by  his  death."  ^  In  like  manner, 
too,  we  do  not  know  what  view  Jesus  took  about  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead.  "We  have  really  no 
authentic  information  as  to  what  took  place  at  the 
trial  of  Jesus.  Matthew  and  Luke  assumed  that  he 
must  have  been  asked  whether  he  was  the  Messiah, 
and   that   he   must   have   preserved   his   Messianic 

*  Rud.  Steck,  in  d.  Protestantische  Monatshefte,  March,  1903. 
'  Jesus,  \V.  Bousset,  p.  206.  •*  Ibid.,  pp.  207-208. 


1 62     MODERN    THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

incognito  to  the  end,  refusing  to  answer  tlie  high 
priest's  question.  Mark,  on  the  contrary,  assumed 
that  he  admitted  his  Messiahship  when  the  Messiah 
was  defined  as  "the  Son  of  the  Blessed."  It  is 
evident  that  when  these  accounts  were  written,  the 
terms  "Son  of  Man,"  "Christ,"  "Son  of  God,"  and 
"  Son  of  the  Blessed"  were  all  synonymous,  or  tending 
to  become  so,  and  that  "Son  of  God"  was  equivalent 
to  "God,"  so  that  the  blasphemy  of  making  oneself 
equal  to  God  could  be  regarded  as  the  charge  brought 
against  Jesus.  Nothing  could  more  clearly  indicate 
the  late  and  unreliable  nature  of  this  narrative."  ^ 
We  do  not  know  where  Gethsemane  was.  We  do 
not  know  the  year  in  which  Jesus  was  crucified,  and 
discrepancy  exists  even  with  regard  to  the  month. 
We  do  not  know  where  he  was  crucified,  or  where 
buried.  We  do  not  know  what  happened  to  his 
body  after  burial.  The  accounts  of  his  post  mortem 
appearances  to  his  truant  disciples  present  irrecon- 
cilable allegations.  Still  more  startling,  the  evange- 
lists are  so  sketchy,  obscure,  or  conflicting  that  we 
do  not  know  exactly  what  claims  he  made  with 
respect  to  his  mission  on  earth. 

Besides,  when  we  abandon  the  New  Testament, 
and  search  the  contemporary  literature  of  the  Roman 

^  The  Prophet  of  Nazareth,  Nathaniel  Schmidt,  pp.  149-150. 


HUMILIATION    IN   THE    MIDST  1 63 

Empire,  the  silence  of  non-Christian  writers  is  most 
remarkable  and  significant.  The  first  overt  refer- 
ence to  Christianity  postdates  the  probable  time  of 
the  Crucifixion  by  more  than  eighty  years.  Still 
more  disconcerting  is  the  reticence,  nay  the  perplexing 
lack  of  interest,  characteristic  of  Paul.  As  a  conse- 
quence, conservative  and  radical  critics  are  in  agree- 
ment perforce  on  one  point  at  least.  The  facts 
necessary  for  a  life  of  Jesus,  in  the  objective  or  his- 
torical sense,  simply  do  not  exist.  We  are  dependent 
mainly  upon  conjecture  and  inference  that  involve 
us  in  constant  uncertainty.  No  doubt,  Socrates 
and  Shakespeare  present  parallel  cases.  But,  even 
for  the  former,  no  such  claims  have  been  advanced 
as  for  Jesus;  it  was  not  alleged  of  Socrates,  as  of 
his  pupil  Plato,  that  he  had  a  god  to  father.  Nor 
does  the  astonishing  recital  close  here.  The  same 
inference  holds  true,  substantially,  of  all  the  men 
who  are  reputed  to  have  composed  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Our  information  about  the  greatest  of  them, 
Paul,  is  most  tantalizing  in  its  fragmentariness. 
How  a  man  such  as  he  is  reported  to  have  been 
came  to  compose  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans 
before  60  a.d.  amounts  to  a  first-rate  literary  mys- 
tery. In  the  same  way,  we  know  nothing  about  the 
writers  of  the  First  and  Second  Gospels;    nothing, 


164     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

except,  perhaps,  his  nationality  and  profession,  of 
the  charming  litterateur  who  gave  us  the  Third;  and 
nothing  at  all  of  the  profound  genius  responsible 
for  the  Fourth.  Similarly,  too,  the  eminent  theo- 
logian who  produced  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
remains  anonymous,  like  the  strange  seer-anti- 
quarian who  compiled  the  Revelation.  Of  the 
authenticity  of  the  less  important  documents  we 
know  little  or  nothing. 

Nevertheless,  such  happen  to  be  disconcerting 
facts,  too  little  appreciated,  often  not  even  appre- 
hended, by  the  usual  church-going  Christian.  We 
must  needs  face  the  resultant  situation  as  best  we 
can.  For  one  thing  alone  stands  out  perfectly  clear. 
Thanks  to  the  paucity  of  biographical  material, 
later  generations  drew  their  own  pictures  of  an  ideal 
Christ,  and  threw  them  back,  in  default  of  historical 
information.  They  filled  out  the  vacant  past  accord- 
ing to  their  hearts'  desires,  and  this  without  much 
reference  to  a  possible  historical  basis.  The  oldest 
New  Testament  documents  are,  even  thus  early, 
illustrations  of  the  process.  Little  wonder,  then, 
that  Christians  are  to  be  found  who  deny  that  their 
religion  took  its  rise  from  a  historical  individual, 
and  who  insist  that  it  "should  be  regarded  as  a  par- 
ticular development  of  social  life,   and  not   as  the 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  165 

work  of  a  j)ersonal  founder  of  a  religion  " ;  ^  who 
declare :  — 

"There  are  narratives  in  the  Bible  which  are  even 
more  vivid  than  the  Christ-stories  in  their  impression 
of  personal  reality,  yet  scientific  research  has  defi- 
nitely ascertained  that  there  is  no  historical  person- 
ality at  the  base  of  them.  To  take  two  instances 
that  will  be  familiar  to  the  general  reader,  the  figures 
in  the  book  of  Ruth  are  very  sharply  defined  and 
vivid,  and  the  prophet  Jonah  has  a  perfect  stamp 
of  individuality.  Yet  there  never  was  an  historical 
Ruth  or  an  historical  Jonah  as  described  in  the  story. 
Both  narratives  are  entirely  the  outcome  of  religious 
poetry.  They  belong  to  a  later  Judaic  age,  and 
are  intended  to  meet  the  increasing  chauvinism  of 
the  Jews  with  the  ideas  of  humanity  and  interna- 
tionalism." ^ 

In  short,  thanks  to  the  veiy  barrenness  of  history, 
it  has  been  deemed  possible  to  trace  the  origin 
of  Christianity,  not  to  a  man,  but  "to  advanced 
Jewish  thought,  or  to  the  philosophy,  humanism, 
or  socialism  of  Roman  imperial  times."  ^  Briefly, 
the  conditions  in  the  Roman  world  were  such  that 
Christianity  was  bound  to  have  arisen,  Jesus  or  no 
Jesus.     Extreme  though  it  be,  —  "a  form  of  pseudo- 

'  The  Rise  of  Christianity,  Albert  Kalthoff,  p.  3. 

^  Ibid.,  pp.  14-15.  ^  Jesus,  Arno  Neumann,  p.  i. 


l66     MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

criticism,"  ^  —  this  position  serves  to  show  the  straits 
to  which  the  historico-critical  movement  may  re- 
duce us. 

The  complex  problems,  inseparable  from  the  ca- 
nonical sources  as  we  have  them,  may  be  illustrated 
in  yet  another  way;  I  mean  by  reference  to  the  dis- 
crepancies that  so  abound.  Time  forbids  more 
than  the  bare  mention  of  a  few  of  the  more  simple 
cases,  and  these  I  set  down  at  random.  They 
may  serve,  at  least,  as  examples  of  many  others, 
even  more  perplexing.  Take,  for  example,  the  pas- 
sages in  Matthew  xi.  2  f.,  and  Luke  vii.  18  f.  How 
are  we  to  interpret  the  series  of  miracles  related 
here?  Is  the  language  a  statement  of  objective  fact, 
or  is  it  a  kind  of  symbolism?  The  answer  would 
seem  to  be,  We  do  not  know.  For,  symbolic  language 
is  often  upon  Jesus'  lips.  "Can  the  blind  lead  the 
blind?  Shall  they  not  both  fall  into  the  ditch?  .  .  . 
And  why  beholdest  thou  the  mote  that  is  in  thy 
brother's  eye,  but  perceivest  not  the  beam  that  is  in 
thine  own  eye?"^  "It  was  meet  that  we  should 
make  merry,  and  be  glad:  for  this  thy  brother  was 
dead,  and  is  alive  again:  and  was  lost,  and  is 
found."  ^ 

'  An  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament,  Adolf  Jiilicher,  p.  28. 
^  Luke  vi.  39,  41.  ^  Ibid.,  xv.  32. 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  1 67 

And  the  famous  statement  of  Mark  — 

"And  Jesus  said  unto  them,  Can  the  children  of 
the  bridechamber  fast,  while  the  Bridegroom  is  with 
them?  As  long  as  they  have  the  Bridegroom  with 
them,  they  cannot  fast.  But  the  days  will  come, 
when  the  Bridegroom  shall  be  taken  away  from 
them,  and  then  shall  they  fast  in  those  days  "  ^  — 

would  appear  to  indicate  that,  on  such  occasions, 
Jesus  has  reference  to  the  general  situation  of  re- 
newal resultant  upon  his  ^^•ork.  And,  if  we  force  an 
objective  interpretation,  how  can  we  reconcile  it  with 
the  disclaimers  entered  in  Matthew  iv.  5-7;  xii. 
38-42,  in  Luke  iv.  9-13;  xi.  29-32?  These 
passages  illustrate  one  type  of  discrepancy. 
The  following  are  of  a  different  kind. 

(a)  Luke's  account  of  the  birth  at  Bethlehem 
contains  several  historical  impossibilities  and,  more- 
over, traverses  the  tradition,  implied  in  the  name 
"Jesus  of  Nazareth,"  that  Jesus  was  bom  at  Naza- 
reth. 

(b)  The  discourses  reported  in  the  Fourth  Gospel 
differ  so  completely  from  the  sayings  preserved  by 
tlie  Synoptists  that  one  must  conclude  they  were 
composed  by  the  writer  and  then  placed  in  Jesus' 
mouth  by  him. 

'  ii.  19  f. 


1 68     MODERN   THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

(c)  A  clear  development  of  the  baptism  story 
is  traceable  from  Mark,  through  Matthew  and  Luke, 
to  John.  The  differences  cannot  be  reconciled  save 
by  recognition  of  progressive  elaboration. 

(d)  Mark  and  Luke  recount  that  Jesus  held  one 
view  about  divorce,  Matthew's  recital  is  at  variance. 

(e)  Mark  and  Matthew  tell  one  thing  about  the 
route  taken  on  the  last  journey  to  Jerusalem,  Luke 
another. 

(f)  The  Synoptists  recite  words  uttered  by  Jesus 
during  the  agony  in  the  Garden,  and  yet,  almost  in 
the  same  breath,  we  are  told  that  the  disciples  were 
"a  stone's  cast  from  him,"  and  overcome  with  sleep. 
Who  heard  him,  then?  If  the  account  be  credible, 
plainly  we  know  nothing  about  these  words. 

(g)  Luke  tells  us  that  the  Last  Supper  was  eaten 
on  the  14th  Nisan,  John  says  the  date  was  the  13th. 
It  is  well  to  warn  ourselves  that  this  discrepancy 
has  nothing  to  do  with  historical  fact;  it  can  be 
traced,  however,  to  doctrinal  prepossession. 

(h)  The  Synoptists  disagree  in  their  reports 
of  Jesus'  words  on  the  cross;  and  John  records  a 
conversation  of  Jesus  with  Mary,  and  "the  disciple 
whom  he  loved,"  — who  were  not  present  at  the  time ! 

(i)  The  accounts  of  the  resurrection  contradict 
each  other,  and  Paul's  recital  is  not  in  accord  with 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  1 69 

that  of  any  one  of  the  evangehsts.  There  was  no 
eye-witness  of  the  event,  all  the  disciples  had 
fled  into  Galilee.  On  the  evidence  as  we  have  it, 
two  questions  can  be  asked  legitimately.  Did  Jesus 
rise  from  the  dead  in  a  literal  physical  way?  Or, 
did  the  disciples,  their  atmosphere  being  what  it 
w^as,  come  to  believe  inevitably  that  he  had  so  risen? 
Which  is  the  fact  ? 

(j)  How  can  we  reconcile  the  account  of  the  post- 
mortem  appearance  to  the  disciples  at  Emmaus  (Luke 
xxiv.  13  f.)  with  the  information,  given  presumably 
by  the  same  writer,  in  Acts  i.  i  f.  ? 

{k)  How  can  we  fit  the  discrepant  tales  about 
the  death  of  Judas,  furnished  respectively  in  Mat- 
thew xxvii.  3  f.  and  Acts  i.  15  f .  ?  * 

(/)  Similarly,  it  is  impossible,  on  any  historical 
basis,  to  collate  the  story  of  Paul's  life  after  his  con- 
version, as  given  in  Acts,  with  his  own  account 
(presumably),  as  given  in  Galatians. 

Thus  it  seems  to  follow,  from  a  historico-critical 
investigation  of  the  documents,  that  they  are  not  to 
be  taken  as  histories  in  any  strict  modem  sense; 
and  that  to  read  them  in  this  fashion  is  to  commit 
grave  error,   fraught  with  dangerous  consequences. 

^  The  probability  is  that  both  can  be  traced  to  the  legend  of 
Nadan,  nephew  of  Ahikar,  grand  vizier  of  Sennacherib. 


1 70     MODERN   THOUGHT    AND   THE    CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

In  a  word,  the  historical  element  is  mixed  with  other 
factors  that  tend  to  transform  it,  and  this  in  ascer- 
tainable ways.  We  may  attempt  to  understand  the 
matter  by  reference  to  the  influence  exercised  by 
the  Old  Testament  upon  the  men  of  the  New, 
especially  upon  Jesus  himself. 

We  are  well  aware  that  Jewish  culture  was  not 
submerged  in  the  huge  sea  of  Roman-Hellenistic 
civilization,  although  it  suffered  dilution.  In  this 
connexion  it  is  important  to  note  that,  so  far  as  we 
know,  all  the  New  Testament  authors  were  Jews, 
except  the  writer  of  the  Third  Gospel  and  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles.  Hence  a  paramount  consideration, 
forgotten  too  frequently  even  by  professed  students 
of  theology.  The  New  Testament  cannot  be  under- 
stood apart  from  apprehension  of  Semitic  modes  of 
thought,  especially  as  crystallized  in  the  sacred  litera- 
ture of  the  Hebrews.  Here  I  can  do  no  more  than 
indicate  the  subtle,  all-pervading  tendency  imparted 
by  the  Old  Testament. 

The  intricate  problems  of  interaction  between 
subjective  ideas  and  objective  events,  inseparable 
from  the  sources  as  they  have  come  down  to  us, 
require  that  we  remember  the  part  played  by  the 
Jewish  Scriptures,  —  they  provided  the  norms  for- 
mative of  Hfe  and  applied  to  the  valuation  of  conduct. 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  171 

They  offered  a  set  view,  not  merely  of  the  duties 
pertinent  to  the  individual  man,  but  also  of  the  destiny 
reserved  for  the  people.  In  particular,  they  furnished 
an  explanation  of  God's  nature,  and  earthly  govern- 
ment. Brielly,  every  Jew,  Jesus  like  the  rest,  was  born 
into  a  well-marked  spiritual  penumbra.  Such  Psalms 
as  the  ii,  xviii,  xx,  xxi,  xlv,  Ixiii,  ex,  cxii,  to  name  only  a 
few,  were  susceptible  of  Messianic  interpretation ;  and 
the  same  held  of  numerous  passages  in  the  other 
writings.  A  vast  system  had  grown  up  round  the 
Scriptures  that  intertwined  everywhere  with  common 
affairs.  Nothing  could  escape  it,  from  the  most 
ordinary  tri\ialities  of  the  daily  round  to  the  sublimest 
aspirations  fathered  by  man.  Besides,  all  this  had 
wrought  itself  into  the  very  marrow  of  Jewish  culture, 
not  by  reference  to  a  racial  philosophy  of  history  alone, 
but  rather  because  the  sacred  books  themselves  formed 
the  chief  staple  of  national  education.  As  Josephus 
says,  "Moses  had  commanded  that  the  children 
should  be  brought  up  in  the  knowledge  of  these  Scrip- 
tures that  relate  to  the  laws."  That  is,  the  Old 
Testament  supplied  more  than  a  theory  of  existence,  — 
it  had  become  the  instrument  of  ethical  and  religious 
discipline.  To  hear,  to  read,  to  recite,  to  transcribe 
the  Scriptures,  —  this  was  the  royal  road  to  learning, 
as  in  Mohammedan  Cairo,  say,  at  the  present  moment. 


172     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND    THE    CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

Apart  altogether  from  any  question  of  its  influence 
over  the  nascent  Christian  faith,  we  can  trace  the 
Old  Testament  everywhere  in  the  New,  just  because 
the  Jewish  youth  were  nurtured  on  it.  Accordingly, 
we  shall  not  be  surprised  to  find  its  atmosphere 
present  always  to  Jesus.  When  the  Pharisees  re- 
proved his  disciples,  because  they  plucked  wheat  on 
the  Sabbath  day,  Jesus  took  appeal  to  Scripture  his- 
tory. That  memory  played  him  false  about  the 
high  priest's  name  (Mark  ii.  26),  that  he  was  unaware 
these  regulations  postdated  David's  time,  makes  no 
difference.  He  enforced  his  opinion  by  the  norms 
familiar  to  his  people;  in  Matthew's  version,  he 
cited  Hosea  vi.  6,  and  no  further  justification 
of  his  followers  was  necessary.  In  the  same  way, 
when  Matthew  made  Jesus  enter  Jerusalem  sitting 
on  an  ass  and  her  colt,  he  was  simply  following  too 
faithfully  Zechariah's  statement :  "  Behold  thy  king 
cometh  unto  thee  .  .  .  riding  upon  an  ass,  even  upon 
a  colt  the  foal  of  an  ass"  (ix.  9).  The  Synoptist 
stuck  to  the  letter  of  a  language  which  plainly  had 
faded  from  use.  But  the  prophecy  must  be  fulfilled. 
When  a  misunderstood  linguistic  usage  is  turned 
thus  into  what  purports  to  be  an  historical  event,  we 
are  in  a  position  to  judge  of  the  immense  leverage 
exerted  by  the  Old  Testament. 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  173 

Thus,  for  Jesus,  the  recitals  and  doctrines  of  the 
Scriptures  constituted  standards  of  judgement  and 
appeal.  His  heedless  contemporaries  stand  in  like 
case  with  the  sinners  of  Noah's  day  (Mt.  xxiv.  37  f., 
Luke  xvii.  26  f.)  ;  historicity  counted  for  nothing. 
When  he  was  confronted  by  the  disciples  of  John, 
who  asked,  "Art  thou  he  that  cometh,  or  look  we 
for  another?  "  he  replied  with  quotations  from  Isaiah 
(xxxv.  5  f. ;  Ixi.  i).  In  the  Beatitudes  he  quoted  from 
Psalm  xxxvii.  When  he  cleansed  the  temple  (Mark 
xi.  17),  he  employed  a  phrase  derived  from  Jere- 
miah (vii.  11).  When  he  discussed  "washings  of 
cups,  and  pots,  and  brazen  vessels  "  with  the  Phari- 
sees (Mark  vii.  4  f.),  he  cited  Isaiah  (xxix.  13), 
Isaiah  v,  i  f.  is  entwined  with  the  parable  of  the 
man  who  planted  a  vineyard  (Mark  xii.  i  f.).  When 
Jesus  took  a  meal  with  the  publican  (Mt.  ix.  13),  he 
appealed  again  to  Hosea.  He  denied  the  Davidic 
descent  of  Messiah  by  reference  to  Psalm  ex,  without 
any  qualms  of  conscience  about  David's  possible 
authorship.  So,  too,  he  proved  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead  (Mark  xii.  26)  by  pleading  in  evidence  Ex- 
odus iii.  2,  6 !  When  he  made  his  entry  into  Jerusa- 
lem, after  the  manner  predicted  of  Messiah,  he  found 
justification  in  Isaiah  (Ixii.  11).  When  he  com- 
mented upon  the  execution  of  John  Baptist   (Mark 


174    MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

ix.  13),  he  recalled  i  Kings  (xix.  2,  10),  or,  more 
probably,  a  lost  apocryphon  represented  by  the  Sla- 
vonic Antiquities  of  Pseudo-Philo.  When  he  silenced 
the  Tempter  (Mt.  iv.  10),  he  was  reminiscent  of 
Deuteronomy  (vi.  13) ;  while  the  Tempter,  when  he 
urged  Jesus  to  cast  himself  down  from  the  pinnacle 
of  the  temple  (Luke  iv.  10),  quoted  from  Psalm 
xci.  II  f.  Similar  instances  might  be  multiplied 
easily.  Suffice  it  to  indicate  that,  when  he  passed 
through  the  crises  in  his  career,  Jesus  reverted  con- 
stantly to  the  Hebrew  Scriptures;  even  at  the  last 
dreadful  moment  on  the  cross,  as  Mark  reports,  he 
repeated  the  first  verse  of  Psalm  xxii. 

So  it  is  no  way  astonishing  to  find  that  the  Old 
Testament  worms  itself  into  the  very  tissue  of  the 
New,  —  into  Matthew  and  John,  into  the  speeches 
of  Peter,  and  Philip,  and  Stephen  in  Acts,  into 
the  sublime  constructions  of  the  Pauline  Epistles; 
and  that  the  Revelation  summarizes  age-old,  pos- 
sibly esoteric,  expectations  of  Semitism  as  they 
took  peculiar  form  in  the  Palestinian  consciousness. 
Now,  the  Old  Testament  could  be  thus  absorbed 
into  the  New,  given  certain  conditions.  If  the  New 
Testament  were  not  primarily  a  history,  if  mere  quo- 
tation from  the  ancient  Scriptures  could  constitute 
irrefragable  proof,  could  be  put  in  place  of  real  events, 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  175 

could  clinch  doctrine  by  simple  citation,  Ihen  the  i)ro- 
cess,  as  we  know  it,  could  have  taken  place;  not 
otherwise.  It  becomes  plain,  accordingly,  that  this 
very  relation  of  the  later  to  the  earlier  documents 
forbids  us  to  estimate  the  New  Testament  as  a  work 
intended  for  a  plain,  unadorned,  historic  recital.  I 
need  hardly  remind  you  that  the  average  "  Bible 
student,"  so  called,  has  little  or  no  knowledge  of 
this  elementary  —  and  elemental  —  fact. 

4.    Christian  Syncretism 

Finally,  the  historico-critical  movement  has  shown 
that,  just  as  the  early  Christian  consciousness  sus- 
tained itself  upon  the  Old  Testament,  so,  within  a 
generation  after  the  Crucifixion,  it  began  to  adopt  and 
adapt  ideas  current  in  the  Hellenistic  world.  Like 
Buddhism,  Christianity  is  a  highly  syncretist  religion. 

Primitive  devotion  to  Jesus  originated  in  an  en- 
vironment where  Jewish  (scriptural)  notions  reigned 
supreme.  But,  even  here,  other  factors  found  place. 
The  long  association  with  Greek  civilization,  dating 
from  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great  (331  B.C.), 
must  be  taken  into  account.  The  presence  of  Orien- 
tal influences,  particularly  in  eschatological  doctrine, 
is  highly  probable,  while  infiltration  from  the  religions 
of   Babylonia,    and   possibly   of   the   Farther   East, 


176     MODERN    THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

amounts  to  a  certainty.  Yet,  even  so,  the  Jewish 
clement  preserved  itself  decisive.  But,  when  the 
new  religion  migrated  into  Roman-Hellenistic  circles, 
it  was  confronted  by  two  systems,  whose  complete 
domination  and  importance  can  hardly  be  exagger- 
ated. One  of  these  controlled  the  world  of  theory, 
the  other  that  of  practice.  The  Roman  Empire 
developed  its  spiritual  hfe  within  the  atmosphere  of 
a  perplexing  conglomeration  of  ideas,  doctrines,  and 
aspirations  compounded  from  Plato  and  later  Greek 
thought,  from  the  theosophical  tendencies  induced 
by  Oriental  moods,  and  from  the  peculiar  drift  of  the 
spirit  of  the  age.  So,  too,  on  the  practical  side,  a 
great  concourse  of  secret  cult-societies  honeycombed 
Mediterranean  Europe.  Devotees  of  the  ancient 
Chthonic  Mysteries  abounded,  because  initiation  was 
now  a  privilege  open  to  all  Roman  citizens.  The 
occult  rites  of  Egyptian  and  Phrygian  deities  flour- 
ished luxuriantly,  as  we  know  from  the  satirists. 
"The  Orontes  had  flowed  into  the  Tiber."  To  these 
must  be  added  the  worship  of  the  Emperors,  and 
the  peculiar  situation  in  the  Jewish  Diaspora.  Con- 
trasted as  they  were,  and  appealing  primarily  to 
different  groups  in  the  community,  the  system  of 
ideas  and  the  crowd  of  religious  observances  did  not 
circle  apart  on  separate  orbits.     For,  similar  aspira- 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  1 77 

tions,  fruit  of  identical  human  problems,  swayed 
both  theory  and  practice.  Nor  can  this  leaven  be 
said  to  have  differed  irremediably  from  some  leanings 
germinal,  if  no  more  at  first,  in  Christian  belief. 
]\Ioreovcr,  reconciliation  saturated  the  spiritual  at- 
mosphere. Briefly,  ideal  motives,  remarkable  in 
their  family  likeness,  affected  all  men,  just  because, 
moved  by  immense  and  missionary  zeal,  Christians 
could  not  stand  aside,  and  stay  untouched.  Conse- 
quently, labile  Christianity,  as  it  insinuated  itself 
rapidly  into  the  syncretist  stream,  absorbed  material 
quite  foreign  to  its  native  (Jewish  scriptural)  charac- 
ter: this  was  inevitable. 

For  example,  the  Jewish  Messianic  expectation 
came  to  be  allegorized  by  the  Logos  doctrine,  derived 
from  Plato,  the  Stoics,  and  Philo.  The  theosophical 
necessity  for  a  mediator  between  God  and  the  world 
replaced  the  hope  that  a  great  man  would  appear, 
commissioned  to  lead  the  earth  to  righteousness, 
as  the  Scriptures  had  foretold.  Thus,  in  effect,  the 
syncretist  conception  of  the  incarnate  Christ  eclipsed 
the  humane  career  of  the  historical  Jesus.  As  one 
of  the  most  learned  among  Anglican  divines  has 
remarked :  — 

"The  conception  of  Christ  as  the  Wisdom  and  the 
Power  of  God  seemed  inconsistent  with  the  meanness 


178     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND    THE    CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

of  a  common  human  life;  and  that  life  resolved  itself 
into  a  series  of  symbolic  representations  of  superhuman 
movements,  and  the  record  of  it  was  written  in  hi- 
eroglyphs." ^ 

Accordingly,  a  new  God  —  not  the  Hebrew 
Yahweh,  and  a  new  Son  of  God  —  not  the  Jewish 
Messiah,  achieved  predominance  in  the  Chris- 
tian consciousness,  and  the  doctrinal  developments 
that  were  to  differentiate  Christianity  so  sharply 
from  its  Semitic  forerunner  displayed  themselves 
quickly.  The  theory  of  Virgin-birth  was  adopted. 
The  notion  of  divine  paternity,  so  familiar  to  the 
Roman-Hellenistic  world,  so  repugnant  to  the  Jew, 
entered  upon  its  fateful  career.  It  guaranteed  the 
efficacy  of  the  mediation  and  salvation  that  lay  close 
to  the  heart  of  multitudes  of  Roman  citizens,  drawn 
from  every  name  under  heaven.  The  Christian 
community  possessed  itself  of  a  mystic  notion  that 
enabled  it  to  respond  to  a  popular  demand  and,  at 
the  same  time,  raised  this  to  the  purer  altitude  of 
its  own  vitalizing  hope.  In  other  words,  a  highly 
speculative  doctrine  replaced  unmalleable  historical 
events.  The  resurrection  "on  the  third  day"  of  the 
Phrygian  Attis-cult,  and  of  the  Egyptian  Osiris-cult,- 
proof  of  the  vicarious,  victorious  suffering  of  these 

1  The  Hibberi  Lectures,  1888,  Edwin  Hatch,  D.D.,  p.  75. 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  179 

gods;  the  part  played  by  the  underworld  in  the 
Chthonic  Mysteries;  the  obscure  legends  of  Semitic 
apocalypse,  connected  with  the  Hebrew  Abaddon  and 
Antichrist,  passed  over  to  the  Christians,  and  attained 
new  consecration  at  their  hands.  The  regnant  the- 
ory of  the  Roman-Hellenistic  world  operated  to  these 
marvellous  ends. 

In  like  manner,  the  practical  situation  wrought 
strange  consequences.  The  religious  guilds, — Thiasoi, 
Eranoi,  or  Orgeones,  —  palpitating  with  fiducial  en- 
thusiasm, filled  with  zeal  for  moral  reformation  after 
their  kind,  read  a  lesson  to  Christians  that  they  could 
not  ignore.  The  Christian  societies  tended  to  assimi- 
late themselves  to  these  fraternities,  just  as,  in  any 
community,  at  any  time  and  in  any  place,  a  new  asso- 
ciation will  follow  naturally  the  lines  drawn  by  organ- 
izations already  in  possession  of  the  field.  So  it  is 
nowise  wonderful  to  find  that,  little  as  Sabazius  or 
Mithra,  Serapis  or  Isis  had  in  common  with  the  ethi- 
cal, non-thaumaturgic  Judaism  of  Jesus,  romanic 
Christians  could  not  but  be  drawn  by  the  success  of 
competing  and  older  clubs.  Further,  this  tendency 
proved  the  more  unavoidable  that  the  worshippers 
of  Mithra  and  the  rest  expected  to  obtain  mortal  puri- 
fication and  immortal  life  by  reason  of  their  devotion. 
Moreover,  the  god  of  the  Thiasos  had  secured  these 


l8o     MODERN  THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

benefits  for  his  worshippers  by  personal  suffering 
and  death.  The  chastisement  of  their  peace  was 
upon  him;  with  his  stripes  they  were  healed.  So 
close  was  the  spiritual  parallelism  that,  as  scholars 
have  observed,  had  the  religion  of  Mithra  conquered 
the  Roman  world,  as  seemed  possible  at  one  crisis, 
Christianity  would  have  descended  to  us  very  much  in 
the  guise  which  the  Mithraic  cult  now  presents  to 
these  investigators!  Most  naturally,  then,  the  great 
Mithraic  festival  of  Sol  Invictus  (spiritualized  as 
the  Sun  of  Righteousness)  became  Christmas  Day;^ 
the  period  between  the  death  and  resurrection  of 
Jesus,  assigned  by  the  Gospels,  was  that  of  the  Osiris- 
cult,  just  as  the  period,  of  different  length,  between 
Good  Friday  and  Easter  Day,  agreed  with  the  tri- 
duum  of  the  Attis-Cybele  festival.  As  the  Christian 
community  came  to  be  composed  more  and  more  of 
Roman  citizens,  perfectly  familiar  with  the  organiza- 
tion, methods,  and  aims  of  the  mystery-cults,  so  cus- 
toms passed  insensibly  from  the  elder  to  the  younger 
societies.  "The  four  forms  of  Christian  belief  which 
we  have  been  considering  are  the  Virgin-birth  of 
Jesus  Christ,  His  Descent  into  the  nether  world.  His 

'  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  Eastern  Christians  {e.g.  at  Edessa) 
objected  to  the  "idolatry"  involved  in  the  adoption  of  Christmas 
Day  bv  the  Roman  community. 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  l8l 

Resurrection,  and  His  Ascension.  On  the  ground 
of  facts  supplied  by  archaeology,  it  is  plausible  to  hold 
that  all  these  arose  out  of  a  pre-Christian  sketch  of 
the  life,  death,  and  exaltation  of  the  expected  Messiah, 
itself  ultimately  derived  from  a  widely  current  mythic 
tradition  respecting  a  solar  deity."  ^ 

In  the  same  way,  the  belief,  current  universally 
among  the  thiasic  initiates,  that  the  Redeemer-God 
must  die,  not  only  exercised  profound  influence  over 
the  direction  taken  by  Christian  belief  and  speculation, 
but  also  induced  modifications  of  practice,  as  in  Bap- 
tism and  the  Last  Supper.  We  find,  for  instance, 
that,  until  this  widespread  idea  had  time  to  operate, 
—  till  about  the  close  of  the  second  century,  —  the 
abstract  theory  of  the  deity  of  Jesus  received  no  fixed 
interpretation;  in  Hke  manner,  the  doctrine  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  fluctuated  freely  for  six  or  seven  genera- 
tions. So,  too,  the  powerful  conception  of  unity  with 
other  men  in  communion  with  a  common  deity, 
highly  characteristic  of  the  Roman-Hellenistic  cults, 
made  itself  felt  in  the  evolution  of  Christian  practice. 
Baptism  assumed  the  nature  of  an  operative  process; 
it  became  "enlightenment,"  "a  seal,"  exactly  as  in 
the  mysteries;    it  filled  the  ofiice  of  an  "initiation" 

'  Bible  Problems,  T.  K.  Cheyne,  D.D.,  Professor  of  Interpreta- 
tion of  Holy  Scripture  at  Oxford,  p.  1 28. 


l82     MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

ceremony;  while  the  baptismal  formula  assimilated 
itself  to  a  "password,"  admitting  the  bearer  to  special 
privileges.  The  exorcism  and  anointment  with  oil, 
that  came  to  be  accompaniments  of  the  rite,  are 
traceable  to  the  same  source.  False  gods  were  ab- 
jured, and  sins  washed  away,  as  in  the  thiasic  ritual; 
in  short,  a  thaumaturgic  efficacy  was  imported  thence. 
Likewise,  in  the  Supper,  the  elements  themselves 
became  "mysteries";  the  conception  of  sacrifice 
attained  predominance;  the  sacramental  reference 
occupied  a  chief  place;  and  the  necessity  for  a  priestly 
intermediary  formulated  itself.  The  gulf  fixed  be- 
tween the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel  meal  and  the 
syncretized  Christian  eucharist,  resultant  upon  Ro- 
man-Hellenistic infiltration,  may  be  inferred  from  the 
following  mystic  narrative  of  Dionysius  Areopagites. 

"All  the  other  initiations  are  incomplete  without 
this.  The  consummation  and  crown  of  all  the  rest 
is  the  participation  of  him  who  is  initiated  in  the  the- 
archic  mysteries.  For  though  it  be  the  common 
characteristic  of  all  the  hierarchic  acts  to  make  the 
initiated  partakers  of  the  divine  light,  yet  this  alone 
imparted  to  me  the  vision  through  whose  mystic 
light,  as  it  were,  I  am  guided  to  the  contemplation 
of  the  other  sacred  things.  .  .  .  The  sacred  hierarch 
initiates  the  sacred  prayer  and  announces  to  all  the 
holy  peace :    and  after  all  have  saluted  each  other, 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  1 83 

the  mystic  recital  of  the  sacred  hsts  is  completed. 
The  hierarch  and  the  priests  wash  their  hands  in 
water;  he  stands  in  the  midst  of  the  divine  altar, 
and  around  him  stand  the  priests  and  the  chosen 
ministers.  The  hierarch  sings  the  praises  of  the 
divine  Vv'orking  and  consecrates  the  most  divine  mys- 
teries, and  by  means  of  the  symbols  which  are  sacredly 
set  forth,  he  brings  into  open  vision  the  things  of  which 
he  sings  the  praises.  And  when  he  has  shown  the 
gifts  of  the  divine  working,  he  himself  comes  into  a 
sacred  communion  with  them,  and  then  invites  the 
rest.  And  having  both  partaken  and  given  to  the 
others  a  share  in  the  thearchic  communion,  he  ends 
with  a  sacred  thanksgiving;  and  while  the  people 
bend  over  what  are  divine  symbols  only,  he  himself, 
always  by  the  thearchic  spirit,  is  led  in  a  priestly 
manner,  in  purity  of  his  godlike  frame  of  mind, 
through  blessed  and  spiritual  contemplation,  to  the 
holy  realities  of  the  mysteries."  ^ 

Thus,  as  Hatch  points  out,  "the  whole  conception 
of  Christian  worship  was  changed.  But  it  was 
changed  by  the  influence  upon  Christian  worship  of 
the  mysteries  and  the  concurrent  cults."  ^  One  need 
only  compare,  say,  even  Luke's  description  of  the 
Last  Supper  with  the  theurgic  presentation  given 
above,  to  realize  how  true  this  is. 

'  Quoted  from  Hatch's  Hibbert  Lectures,  pp.  303,  304. 
^  Ibid.,  p.  309. 


184     MODERN    THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

Finally,  the  full  consequences  of  this  syncretist 
process  crystallized  in  the  creeds.  The  transfor- 
mation of  the  early  faith  was  so  profound  that,  even 
in  the  simplest  of  our  "symbols"  (a  word,  by  the 
way,  taken  from  the  mysteries),  the  so-called  Apostles' 
Creed,  there  is  nothing,  in  all  likelihood,  which  Jesus 
would  have  understood  after  the  credal  sense,  except, 
probably,  "the  life  everlasting"  and,  possibly,  a 
certain  aspect  of  the  resurrection  article.  And  the 
creed,  recollect,  is  but  "the  baptismal  formula  en- 
larged" *  —  the  password,  as  it  were,  to  the  "greater 
mystery,"  whereof  the  Eleusinian  initiate  could  ex- 
claim: "I  have  fasted;  I  have  drunk  the  kykeon; 
I  have  taken  out  of  the  kiste;  and  after  having  tasted 
I  have  deposited  in  the  kalathos."  ^  Thus  the  beg- 
garly elements  of  a  less  spiritual  faith  were  baptized 
into  the  Christian  consciousness.  "The  base  things 
of  the  world,  and  the  things  that  are  despised,  did 
God  choose,  yea  and  the  things  that  are  not,  that 
he  might  bring  to  nought  the  things  that  are."  ^ 

'  Cf.  The  Apostles'  Creed,  A.  Harnack,  in  The  Nineteenth 
Century,  vol.  xxxiv,  pp.  158  f. 

^  The  Eleusinian  Mysteries,  Franfois  Lenormant,  in  The 
Contemporary  Review,  vol.  xxxviii,  p.  144.  Kykeon  =  the  re- 
freshing draught ;  a  sacred  cake  was  taken  out  of  the  kiste  =  the 
box  or  chest,  touched  and  tasted,  then  returned  to  the  kalathos  = 
wicker  basket. 

^  I  Corinthians  i.  28. 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  185 

Such,  then,  appear  to  be  some  results  and  tenden- 
cies of  the  historico-critical  movement  regarding 
Ancient  History,  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and 
the  Origins  of  Christianity.  Sketchy  as  my  summary 
perforce  is,  it  may  suffice  to  indicate  the  direction  taken 
by  research ;  and  to  render  this  unmistakable,  I  have 
set  the  material  in  high  light.  Further,  many  of  the 
most  distinguished  scholars  are  banded,  in  a  world- 
wide fellowship,  to  attack  details  that  still  remain 
obscure.  The  end  is  not  yet,  one  dare  not  forecast 
the  ultimate  inferences  upon  disputed  points.  Never- 
theless, it  needs  no  argument  to  show  that  the  move- 
ment has  arrived,  and  arrived  to  stay.  The  labour 
of  a  century  has  not  proved  vain,  and  only  a  Mrs. 
Partington  would  deal  with  it  after  her  fashion.  The 
fait  accompli  stands  forth  to  such  purpose  that  the 
hazards  of  belief  assume  a  fresh  guise,  one  quite 
unprecedented. 

"...  Mortalia  facta  peribunt, 
Nedum  sermonum  stet  honos  et  gratia  vivax." 

Applied  in  this  thoroughgoing  style  to  the  august 
construction  of  Christian  dogma  and  doctrinal  legend, 
the  historico-critical  movement,  with  its  strict  induc- 
tive methods,  appears  to  produce  veritable  ''  humilia- 
tion in  the  midst."  Notwithstanding,  even  if  many 
problems  rest  unsettled,  we  are  bound  to  remember 


l86     MODERN   THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

that,  after  all,  this  type  of  investigation  has  little  more 
than  started.  As  years  go  by,  it  cannot  fail  to  reap 
larger  results,  agreed  upon  by  those  who  have  earned 
the  right  to  speak  with  authority,  and  backed  by 
evidences  that  are  sure  to  move  thoughtful,  candid 
men.  Lengthened  observation  and  reflexion  have  led 
me  to  conclude  that,  in  spite  of  its  present  fluid  state, 
we  are  destined  to  reckon  with  it.  In  any  case,  it  is 
quite  certain  that  the  old  elevation  of  doctrine  and  in- 
tellectual assent  above  life  and  moral  worth  must  go  by 
the  board.  Festooned  with  sacred  memories  as  the 
ancient  props  are,  a  worse  thing  than  this  glimpse  of 
historical  truth  may  well  befall  us,  if  we  persist  in 
blindness  to  their  real  nature.  Assuredly,  in  these 
days  of  popular  education,  the  laity  will  come  to  know 
the  facts,  and  cease  to  rest  satisfied  with  garbled 
accounts  of  them;  it  matters  little  whether  the 
garbling  be  undertaken  in  the  interests  of  confessional 
orthodoxy  or  of  propagandist  rationalism.  Slowly 
but  surely  the  new  knowledge  is  permeating  society, 
and,  as  surely,  accordant  measures  are,  or  will  become, 
a  clamant  want.  The  parting  of  the  ways  will  arrive, 
later  if  not  sooner.  Men  in  whose  lives  religion  plays 
a  vital  role  have  need  of  all  the  courage  and  love  of 
truth  at  their  disposal.  For,  to  be  explicit,  organized 
Christianity  has  been  called  to  trial  upon  two  counts, 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  187 

both  of  paramount  importance  to  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury. On  the  one  hand,  the  church  must  make  up 
its  mind  whether  or  no  its  mission  possesses  meaning 
in  relation  to  the  democratic  movement,  rumbhng 
underground  now,  destined  to  speak  out  full-throated 
to-morrow.  It  must  decide  whether  its  preaching 
is  to  take  cognizance  primarily  of  a  possible  life  be- 
yond the  grave,  or  is,  first  of  all,  to  concentrate  upon 
the  sublime  petition,  "Thy  kingdom  come;  Thy  will 
be  done,  in  earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven."  With  this, 
these  Lectures  do  not  concern  themselves.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  church  must  make  up  its  mind  whether 
the  permanent  elements  of  religion  are  to  remain 
fettered,  perhaps  stultified,  by  hypotheses  relevant 
in  the  fourth  century,  or  are  capable  of  plangent 
statement  in  terms  of  our  contemporary  outlook  upon 
the  world  and  life.  In  some  respects,  the  latter  is 
the  most  difficult  problem  before  our  generation. 

Like  all  difficult  and  immense  things,  its  historical 
course  has  been  most  complex  and  tortuous.  So 
much  so  that  one  cannot  say,  lo  here  or  lo  there  it 
took  rise.  Likewise,  its  saccular  trend,  unhasting, 
unresting,  still  sweeps  towards  maturity.  It  awaits 
the  alembic  of  a  seminal  personaHty,  as  we  await  the 
epiphany  of  its  Plato  or  Augustine,  of  its  Newton  or 
Hegel.    In  short,  no  one  but  a  great  genius,  of  an 


1 88     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

individualized  type  superfluous  or  impossible  in  a 
former  age,  can  transform  the  mysterious  perspec- 
tives of  belief.  For  he  alone  is  able  to  bring  forth 
from  the  treasures  of  heart  and  brain  things  both 
new  and  old. 

But,  be  all  this  as  it  will,  thus  far  we  have  not  con- 
fronted our  third  'universe.'  So,  in  the  Lectures 
to  come,  I  shall  ask  you  to  reflect  with  me  upon 
certain  aspects  of  the  religious  and  ethical  conscious- 
ness. Possibly  some  glimpses  may  be  vouchsafed 
us,  if  not  of  an  undiscovered  country,  at  least  of  a 
dimension  of  experience  that  eludes  the  strait  canons 
dear  to  history.  Yet,  even  this  essay  is  sore  beset  by 
manifold  difficulties,  and  encompassed  with  wander- 
ing lights.  Indeed,  these  happen  to  be  incidents 
wrought  into  the  central  importance  of  the  subject 
for  our  common  humanity. 

"All  I  could  never  be, 
All,  men  ignored  in  me, 
This,  I  was  worth  to  God,  Whose  wheel  the  pitcher  shaped." 

Yea,  verily!  But,  how  to  elicit  this?  How  to  con- 
vey it  in  the  poor  show  of  words,  so  apt  to  mumble 
or  slur  the  quintessential?  These  mobile,  ethereal 
tremors,  and  all  the  solemn  questions  they  evoke, 
disclose  the  basal,  poignant  afflictions  that  hover 
about  our  paradoxical  lot.     I  beg  earnestly  that  you 


HUMILIATION    IN    THE    MIDST  1 89 

will  realize  the  slipperiness  of  the  possible  foothold 
and,  realizing,  bear  with  my  constant  stumbles. 

Note.  —  The  following  works  are  readily  available  for  readers 
of  English  who  wish  to  pursue  the  subject  farther.  An  Intro- 
duction to  the  New  Testament,  A.  Jiilicher  (Smith,  Elder  and 
Co.,  London);  The  First  Three  Gospels,  J.  Estlin  Carpenter 
(Sunday  School  Association,  London) ;  Tlie  Johannine  Writings, 
Paul  W.  Schmiedel  (Macmillan  Co.,  New  York);  The  Fourth 
Gospel,  its  Purpose  and  Theology,  Ernest  F.  Scott  (Scribner,  New 
York);  The  Life  of  Jesus,  Oscar  Holtzmann  (Macmillan  Co., 
New  York) ;  Tiie  Sources  of  Our  Knowledge  of  the  Life  of  Jesus, 
Paul  Wernle  (Philip  Green,  London);  Jesus,  W.  Bousset  (G.  P. 
Putnam's  Sons,  New  York) ;  Jesus,  Arno  Neumann  (Macmillan 
Co.,  New  York);  Paul,  W.  Wrede  (Philip  Green,  London); 
Exploratio  Evangelica,  A  Brief  Examination  of  the  Basis  and 
Origin  of  Christian  Belief,  Percy  Gardner  (G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons, 
New  York) ;  The  Beginnings  of  Christianity,  Paul  Wernle  (G.  P. 
Putnam's  Sons,  New  York) ;  The  hifluence  of  Creek  Ideas  and 
Usages  upon  the  Christian  Church,  Edwin  Hatch  (Hibbert  Lec- 
tures for  1888,  Williams  and  Norgate,  London) ;  The  New 
Testament  Articles  in  the  Encyclopccdia  Bihlica  (Macmillan  Co., 
New  York).  Messrs.  Williams  and  Norgate,  London,  or  Messrs. 
G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  New  York,  will  furnish  upon  application  a 
list  of  the  works  constituting  the  Crown  Theological  Library, 
which  are  admirably  suited  for  all  laymen  interested  in  the  Chris- 
tian religion  and  kindred  topics. 


LECTURE   V 

THE   PREESTABLISHED   DISCORD 

As  we  approach  our  further  enquiry,  let  me  say 
at  once  that  I  do  not  intend  to  elaborate  a  critical 
argument.  In  other  words,  I  shall  make  no  formal 
attack  upon  the  technical  conclusions  of  the  scientific 
consciousness.  This  were  absurd  and,  for  the  phi- 
losophy, superfluous.  So  far  as  our  generation  is 
concerned,  it  can  afford  to  rest  content  with  Professor 
Ward's  rigorous  analysis  of  Naturalism.^  More- 
over, in  another  place,  I  have  committed  myself  to 
the  opinion :  — 

"As  regards  the  mechanical  theory,  in  particular, 
Dr.  Ward's  treatment  may  be  taken  as  final.  .  .  . 
The  mechanical  theory,  the  theory  of  mechanical 
evolution,  and  the  theory  of  psychological  parallelism 
fail  as  accounts  of  the  universe  as  a  whole.  They 
can  be  proved  insufficient  and  abstract,  or  partisan 
and  illogical.  .  .  .  The  account  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  mechanical  theory  turns  itself  inside  out  in 

^  Cf.  Naturalism  and  Agnosticism,  James  Ward,  especially 
vol.  i. 

190 


THE    PREESTABLISHED    DISCORD  191 

the  inevitable  course  of  its  historical  development 
is  masterly  to  a  degree,  and  the  same  may  be  allowed 
of  the  measure  meted  to  the  half-monisms  associated 
with  the  'new'  psychology.  In  the  criticism  of  the 
theory  of  mechanical  evolution  the  work  rises  to  a 
very  high  level  of  dialectical  skill."  ^ 

This  view  I  continue  to  affirm. 

Nor  shall  I  assault  the  findings  of  the  historico- 
critical  method.  On  the  face  of  it,  an  amateur  must 
admit  the  competence  of  a  factual  scienee  within  its 
own  range.  On  the  contrary,  my  desire  is  rather  to 
elaborate  a  point  of  view,  one  that  may  serve,  pos- 
sibly, to  stress  activities  of  the  ethico-religious  life 
which  contemporary  studies  and  methods  have 
tended  to  obscure,  and  have,  as  I  believe,  minimized. 

Since  Thales  and  his  successors  in  Greece,  thought 
has  travelled  many  a  spiral  round,  with  infinite 
pains.  Generally,  it  has  passed  from  a  vague  cos- 
mological  standpoint,  through  a  molar-mechanical 
one,  to  a  molecular  universe  so  ramified  and  elusive 
in  its  parts  that  the  necessity  for  traffic  with  first 
principles  seems  to  have  lost  emphasis.  We  need 
to  circle  back  upon  concrete  experience,  armed, 
however,  with  the  ampler  views  won  so  hardly  on 

*  The  American  Journal  of  Theology,  vol.  iv,  p.  136  (in  a  review 
of  the  above). 


192     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

many  levels.  Science  was  made  by  man,  it  is  his 
instrument,  never  his  master.  And  from  this  judge- 
ment no  species  of  science,  natural  or  human,  can 
claim  exemption. 

Nevertheless,  it  were  impossible  to  overlook  the 
issues  raised  in  the  previous  Lectures.  The  apposi- 
tions between  science  and  religion,  between  criticism 
and  faith,  furnish  a  large  element  to  the  preestab- 
lished  discord  that  has  afflicted  man  immemorially  — 
never  more  keenly  than  at  this  good  hour.  To 
gain  anything  like  a  steady  view  of  the  situation  on 
the  whole,  we  must  refuse  to  be  upset  by  the  insistent 
clamour  of  discrepant  voices.  This  or  that  aspect 
of  a  matter  may  well  disguise,  nay  conceal,  the  matter 
itself.  The  vast  extension  of  knowledge  in  detail 
admonishes  seriously  to  calm  reflexion  upon  the 
immanent  unity.  If  the  fuller  apprehension  of 
nature  and  human  qualities,  acquired  these  last 
hundred  years,  compel  us  to  recognize  that  the 
internal  mystery  has  shifted  its  centre,  it  intimates 
also,  and  no  less  decisively,  that  mystery  abides  much 
as  before.  One  method  of  solution,  one  path  of 
escape,  may  have  been  foreclosed.  That  is  all. 
What  method  or  path  ?  Let  me  reply,  provisionally, 
as  follows  (I  say,  provisionally,  because  I  happen  to 
know  theologians  who  could  state  an  excellent  case 


THE    PREESTABLISIIED    DISCORD  193 

for  their  own  view,  who  are  equipped  fully  to  look 
after  it).  Remembering  this,  then,  suppose  we  take 
it  for  granted  that  the  theological  constructions, 
common  to  organized  Christianity,  are  not  reconcil- 
able with  modern  knowledge;  suppose  we  agree  to 
treat  them  as  of  historical  interest  only.  I  suggest 
this  line  for  two  reasons.  On  the  one  hand,  and 
theoretically,  many  scientific  authorities,  followed  by 
more  students,  think  thus  —  the  theological  attitude 
is  prima  facie  suspect  with  them.  Therefore,  they 
conclude  that  the  Christian  religion  must  go  by  the 
board.  Whether  this  view,  advocated  openly  by 
some  few,  subconscious  with  a  great  company,  can 
be  maintained,  we  need  not  stop  to  ask.  On  the 
other  hand,  and  practically,  this  course  is  open  to 
me,  because  I  am  a  layman,  as  it  was  not  open  to  the 
clergymen  who  preceded  me,  as  it  may  not  be  open 
to  those  who  follow.  Accordingly,  let  us  drop  the 
creeds  frankly,  on  the  alleged  ground  that  they 
conflict  irremediably  with  the  conclusions  of  the 
scientific  consciousness  and  of  the  historico-critical 
method.  If  we  proceed  thus,  the  question  arises, 
Have  we  thereby  dismissed  "Christian  truth"? 
The  point  of  view  I  shall  attempt  to  develop  must 
confront  this  problem.  In  other  words,  we  abandon 
the  apologetic  "  defence  of  Christian  truth,"  as  formu- 
o 


194     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

lated  traditionally,  in  favour  of  an  effort  after  "the 
establishment  of  Christian  truth"  by  appeal  to  the 
constitution  and  active  career  of  human  self-con- 
sciousness. Our  last  'universe'  falls  to  be  explored. 
In  the  Introductory  Lecture  we  had  occasion  to 
see  that  "man's  distinctive  mark"  proceeds  from  his 
double  nature.  The  paradox  happens  to  be  that 
need  and  opportunity,  failure  and  fulfilment,  root  in 
identical  conditions.  Calm  the  storm  and  stress 
thus  originated,  and  religion  would  lose  all  meaning. 
Somewhere  within  its  recesses,  the  character  of 
every  mature  person  responds  to  the  heart-breaking 
sigh  stereotyped  in  the  words  "the  good  that  I 
would  I  do  not :  but  the  evil  which  I  would  not,  that 
I  do."  Sooner  or  later,  a  human  being  is  forced  to 
comment  thus,  and,  as  a  rule,  upon  events  of  the  last 
importance  to  him. 

"Life,  like  a  dome  of  many-coloured  glass, 
Stains  the  white  radiance  of  eternity." 

Why?  Simply  because  the  career,  wherein  our  lot 
expresses  itself,  appears  unable  to  happen  otherwise. 
Nay,  the  more  significant  it  becomes  in  individual 
cases,  the  more  it  tends  to  illustrate  this  condemna- 
tion. We  are  driven,  therefore,  to  expose  the  terms 
of  the  contrast  in  some  detail. 

No  one  needs  to  be  told  that,  at  present,  it  is  cus- 


THE    PREESTABLISHED    DISCORD  1 95 

ternary  to  represent  the  conflict  in  but  one  of  several 
possible  ways,  and  this  rather  to  the  exclusion  of 
others.  Not  only  from  popular  parlance,  but  also 
from  the  charmed  language  of  'the  schools,'  we  are 
apt  to  discover  the  opposition  outlined  broadly  thus. 
The  universe  is  two  ultimately.     One  recognizes — 

"that  he  has  two  sources  of  information, —  his 
senses  and  his  inner  consciousness.  When  reflecting 
upon  the  mental  processes  by  which  the  materials 
suppHed  by  the  senses  are  worked  into  thought,  the 
Mind  is  watching  its  own  activities.  By  self-study 
a  man  acquires  a  knowledge  of  knowing,  thoughts 
about  thinking.  He  knows  that  he  possesses  con- 
sciousness. It  is  not  that  he  is  consciousness — 
merely  a  concomitant  of  a  certain  kind  of  nerve- 
activity.  He  owns  a  consciousness  which  he  can 
direct  and  control;  from  which  it  follows  that  there 
is  a  He  to  own  it.  But  the  two  sources  of  information 
must  never  be  confused.  The  lines  of  thought  for 
which  the  external  and  the  internal  worlds  supply 
materials  are  parallel  and  neither  diverging  nor 
converging  lines.  A  man's  consciousness  gives  him 
no  more  information  with  regard  to  his  science  than 
his  senses  give  him  with  regard  to  his  consciousness. 
The  two  worlds  are  absolutely  and  permanently 
distinct."  ^ 

^ Some  Problems  of  the  Day  in  Natural  Science:    An  Intro- 
duction, Alex.  Hill,  pp.  26-27. 


196     MODERN  THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

The  physical,  or  energy,  the  psychical,  or  conscious- 
ness, present  themselves  as  disparate  orders,  neither 
reducible  to  the  other.  And,  when  the  individual 
comes  in  question,  what  holds  of  the  macrocosm 
reappears  in  the  microcosm.  The  body,  with  its 
neuroses,  stands  over  against  the  'soul,'  with  its 
psychoses.  No  causal  relation  between  them  exists 
to  afford  convenient  union,  and  so  a  symbolic  repre- 
sentation of  their  final  unity  laughs  us  ironically  into 
compulsory  contentment  of  uneasiness.  Flatly,  the 
irreducibles  remain  irreducible.  Doubtless,  evidence 
abounds  for  this  conclusion,  if  you  regard  the  phe- 
nomena in  a  certain  way.  But,  evidence  or  no,  the 
demonstration  lacks  power  to  reveal  the  situation  in 
detail.  For,  in  the  first  place,  it  is  obviously  an 
abstract  reflexion  upon  life  rather  than  an  exhibition 
of  processes  in  concrete ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  it 
is  a  judgement  on  the  whole,  or  in  gross.  Putting 
the  matter  otherwise,  we  may  well  ask,  Does  self- 
consciousness  in  any  of  its  aspects,  except  the  in- 
tellectual possibly,  show  up  thus?  Is  the  artistic, 
or  the  ethical,  or  the  social,  or  the  psychological,  or 
the  religious  interest  amenable  to  this  presentation, 
and  to  no  other?  I  think  we  are  bound  to  reply  in 
the  negative.  At  all  events,  convenient  as  it  m.ay  be 
to   convey   synoptically   what   appears   an   ultimate 


THE    PREESTABLISHED    DISCORD  1 97 

opposition,  we  have  earned  no  right  to  rest  in  such  a 
proposition  prior  to  some  enquiry  about  constituent 
factors  and  about  definite  presuppositions.  Nay, 
one  might  be  justified  in  the  further  allegation  that 
not  all  evidence  tells  in  just  this  single  direction. 
Is  the  savage  oppressed  by  the  break,  or  the  child  ? 
Is  the  average  man,  in  normal  moments,  burdened 
invariably  by  a  profound  sense  that  ^ the  physical'  and 
'  the  psychical '  lock  in  deadly  strife  ?  Is  he  even  aware 
from  hour  to  hour  that  they  fall  apart,  to  move  on 
separate  planes?  Briefly,  is  it  not  true  that  practice, 
in  large,  declines  to  confirm  this  theoiy  in  large? 
Without  attempting  to  pursue  the  problem,  we  must 
admit  at  least  that  doubt  exists.  Accordingly,  it 
were  more  to  our  point  —  the  investigation  of 
the  ethico-religious  consciousness  —  to  dismiss  this 
method  of  approach,  approved  currently  though  it 
be,  and  attempt  another  line,  one  less  general,  more 
calculated  to  follow  the  mazes  of  the  plain  day's 
work. 

Fortunately,  perhaps,  we  are  relieved  from  search 
for  a  beginning,  our  course  thus  far  having  left  no 
choice.  The  previous  enquiry  has  served  to  elicit 
grave,  if  not  alarming,  contradictions  between  the 
deliberate  inferences  of  the  scientific  consciousness 
and  the  historico-critical  method,  on  the  one  hand, 


198     MODERN  THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

and  the  naive  beliefs  of  numerous  —  average  repre- 
sentative —  Christians,  on  the  other.  Indeed,  as 
we  have  noticed,  this  preestabhshed  discord  con- 
tributes a  main  element  to  the  unrest  of  contempo- 
rary culture.  Strange  as  the  idea  may  appear,  the 
best  way  to  attempt  a  resolution  lies  along  the  path 
of  further  contact  with  discord.  For,  as  yet,  its 
possible  implications  have  been  kept  in  the  back- 
ground. Thus,  we  may  set  out  by  asking.  Does  the 
conflict  characteristic  of  human  experience  become 
deeper  when  you  pursue  it  into  such  details  as  natural 
science  and  exact  history  supply  than  it  proves  daily 
in  the  broad  simplicities  of  common  sense  and  even 
of  popular  philosophy  ?  Are  not  science  and  '  causal ' 
history  themselves  under  a  greater  condemnation  — 
one  of  the  same  kind,  but  acuter,  because  more 
explicit?  Granted  all  their  results,  have  they  it  in 
their  power  to  assuage  the  yearning  that  produces 
religion?  And,  if  not,  can  these  very  results 
remain  unaffected  in  our  judgement,  especially  with 
regard  to  claims,  made  for  them  by  many,  as  vehicles 
of  'explanation'?  We  shall  try  to  catch  a  glimpse 
of  the  principle  suggested  by  these  questions  ere  we 
proceed,  in  our  next  Lecture,  to  grapple  with  the 
ethical  consciousness  itself. 
When  we  review  experience,  we  are  struck  forth- 


THE    PKEESTABLISHED    DISCORD  199 

with  by  the  vast  complexity  of  quite  obvious  ramifica- 
tions. Life  has  differentiated  itself  on  all  sides;  it 
revels  exuberantly  in  exfoliating  interests,  many  of 
them  prone  to  dominate  at  different  points  or  amid 
various  circumstances.  The  primitive  union  of 
religion  with  custom  and  law,  with  government  and 
morals,  with  philosophy  and  science,  such  as  patri- 
archal story  attests,  corresponds  to  no  actual  situation 
in  modern  society.  As  a  consequence,  one  activity 
may  play  the  title-role  on  occasion,  nay,  come  to 
masquerade  as  if  it  were  experience  in  toto.  The 
absorbed  scholar,  the  skilful  physician,  the  busy 
merchant,  the  ubiquitous  politician  fall  under  strong 
temptation  to  rate  everything  as  intellectual  merely,  or 
physical,  or  commercial,  or  amenable  to  compromise. 
In  every  case  the  same  implication  rules;  men  tend 
to  treat  the  familiar  as  if  it  were  normative,  to  sup- 
pose that  the  truth  dwells  within  their  sphere  of 
influence.  Thus,  when  we  take  appeal  to  experience 
we  must  realize,  and,  if  need  be,  force  ourselves  to 
realize,  that  this  centrifugal  movement  sets  our 
worst  puzzles.  For  example,  nobody  requires  close 
intimacy  with  the  votaries  of  the  sciences  to  learn 
that  they  evince  a  habit  of  assigning  prime  importance 
to  their  respective  pursuits.  Much  of  the  good- 
natured  chaff  that  sweetens  academic  life,  not  a  little 


200     MODERN    THOUGHT    AND    THE  CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

of  the  acidity  that  sometimes  sours  it,  run  back  to 
this  palpable  fact.  Briefly,  thanks  to  the  progressive 
subdivision  of  experience,  consequent  upon  ampler 
recognition  of  its  tortuousness,  any  truth  may  be 
elevated  readily  to  the  plane  of  the  truth.  Let  us 
probe  this  curious  development  a  little  more  deeply. 
Ad\'ance  in  knowledge  depends  upon  awareness  of 
problems,  of  contradictions.  Science,  as  a  process 
of  investigation,  consists  in  an  effort  to  erase  these 
blots  upon  consistency;  as  a  system,  complete  so  far, 
it  surveys  conditions  of  consistency  in  a  particular 
field.  If  we  find  that  a  series  of  related  judgements 
agree  among  themselves  and,  in  addition,  do  not 
traverse  other  judgements  proven  empirically,  we 
are  entitled  to  allege  that  we  possess  a  fragment  of 
truth.  Yet,  such  is  the  shiftiness  of  events  that  we 
must  divide  in  order  to  conquer.  But  division,  it  so 
happens,  implies  much  more  than  one  notes  com- 
monly. Of  course,  on  the  face  of  it,  to  divide  means 
to  select,  to  choose  a  part  from  the  whole.  One 
fails  to  see  as  readily  that  the  choice  leads  also  to 
manipulation  of  the  part  in  a  specific  way.  Method 
arrives  upon  the  scene.  For,  why  choose?  The 
physicist,  to  cite  a  case,  preserves  discreet  silence 
about  the  odours,  colours,  and  tastes  of  his  objects. 
His  world,  when  organized  in  truth,  turns  out  some- 


THE    PEEESTABLISHED    DISCORD  201 

thing  totally  different  from  the  world  patent  to  the 
average  man.  The  plain  inferences  of  common  sense 
occupy  no  place  here.  Nevertheless,  your  physicist 
not  only  can,  but  does,  enjoy  emi  de  Cologne,  beau 
brocade,  and  chartreuse  with  the  same  zest  as  his 
guileless  neighbour.  His  science  knows  nothing 
about  such  qualities;  at  the  same  time,  the  quaHties 
remain  in  his  experience  exactly  as  in  that  of  the  bon 
viveur.  It  demands  no  insight  to  understand  why  — 
they  have  been  disregarded  pure  and  simple.  Now, 
no  science  could  remain  science  on  the  basis  of 
such  cavalier  procedure.  So  it  becomes  apparent 
immediately  that  they  have  been  disregarded  for 
apposite  reasons.  Physics  confines  itself  deliber- 
ately to  quantitative  investigations  of  special  events 
in  experience.  By  this  self-denying  ordinance  its 
exponents  hope  to  formulate  results  that  would  be 
beyond  reach  were  qualitative  differences  permiitted 
to  intervene.  That  is,  to  conquer,  the  enquirer  di- 
vides and,  by  consequence,  holds  the  division  for 
absolute  in  some  directions.  And  if,  as  all  would 
admit  at  once,  physics  be  a  more  '  exact '  science  than 
biology,  the  reason  lurks  here.  Biological  material, 
by  its  very  constitution,  defies  us  to  omit  qualitative 
reference  without  ceremony.  New  qualities  do  pre- 
sent themselves,  which  cannot  be  foreseen  like  "prop- 


202     MODERN  THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

erties  of  matter."  Hence,  plainly,  the  larger  part 
played  by  mathematics  in  physical  science  and,  on 
the  contrary,  the  greater  constructive  importance  of 
experiment  in  biology.  Thus  selection  proves  to  be 
no  bare  choice,  it  spills  over  into  angle  of  outlook  and 
method  of  procedure,  both  adopted  with  conscious 
intent. 

I  hope  I  have  made  it  clear  that  anything  worthy 
the  name  science  —  be  it  astronomy,  chemistry, 
psychology,  or  history  —  proceeds  upon  a  specific 
agreement  a  quo.  Experience  must  submit  to  dis- 
ruption if  truths  be  in  demand.  As  matter  of  record, 
every  science  adopts  this  plan  at  the  outset.  But 
the  rank  and  file  even  of  educated  men  fail  to  notice 
that  the  plan  conditions  the  conclusion  also.  For 
instance,  I  am  quite  able  to  follow  the  chemist  when 
he  says  that  an  atom  of  copper  or  of  oxygen  is  capable 
of  conveying  a  quantity  of  electricity  twice  as  great  as 
that  conveyed  by  an  atom  of  hydrogen  or  of  iodine. 
I  take  it  for  granted  from  him  that  the  atomic  theory 
offers  an  ultimate  description  of  the  events  he  has 
segregated  in  his  selected  universe.  But,  at  the  same 
time,  I  have  no  difficulty  in  agreeing  with  the  moralist 
when  he  says  that  definite  rights  bring  definite  obli- 
gations, and  that  these  obligations  are  capable  of 
expression  in  the  form  of  commandments.    I  take 


THE    PREESTABLISHED    DISCORD  203 

it  for  granted  from  him  that  the  theory  of  a  "kingdom 
of  ends"  —  of  beings  who  are  never  mere  means, 
but  possess  a  purposive  career  —  offers  an  ultimate 
description  of  the  events  he  segregates  in  his  selected 
universe.  Nevertheless,  I  notice  instantly  that  the 
truth  of  the  one  proposition  lacks  application  utterly 
in  the  region  where  the  other  reigns  supreme.  The  two 
judgements  circle  quite  apart ;  yet,  both  belong  equally 
to  common  life,  —  the  one  holds  no  more  truth  than 
the  other.  Essentially,  then,  each  is  true  only  under 
partial  conditions.  Neither  runs  freely  through  the 
entire  range  of  experience.  Moral  atoms  and  chemical 
persons  cannot  be  even  figments  of  the  wildest  im- 
agination.^ The  divided  universe  abides  divided. 
Now  I  am  anxious  to  have  you  understand  that  a 
large  proportion  of  contemporary  difficulty  about 
religious  belief  originates  precisely  from  suppositions 
on  all  fours  with  the  absurd  idea  that  moral  atoms 
and  chemical  persons  not  only  exist,  but  are  the  sole 
real  existences.  Science  and  religion  have  been 
conversing  in  unknown  tongues,  with  the  familiar 
consequence  —  complete,  and  mutual,  unintelligibil- 
ity.  How  so  ?  We  may  answer  the  question,  first,  by 
reference  to  the  preestablished  discord  of  experience 

^  Although  Huxley  did  forget  himself  once  so  far  as  to  think 
not  (cf.  Works,  vol.  i,  p.  275). 


204    MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

as  it  issues  in  Naturalism.  For  here  we  find  a  typical 
case  illustrating  the  illegitimate,  if  inevitable,  trans- 
mutation of  a  truth  into  the  truth. 

Men  live  through  series  of  events  numerous  beyond 
calculation,  and  complex  beyond  immediate  compre- 
hension. So  long  as  the  welter  and  involution  run 
riot,  it  is  hopeless  to  extract  explanations  more  sat- 
isfactory than  brilliant  —  or  foolish  —  guesses.  A 
febrile  patient  betrays  delirium  —  we  suppose  that 
an  evil  spirit  possesses  him ;  a  man  may  not  marry  his 
aunt  — ■  we  suppose  that  a  divine  command  interdicts; 
an  eclipse  occurs  —  we  suppose  that  a  dragon  has 
supped  on  the  sun;  a  volcanic  eruption  overtakes  a 
city  midmost  work  and  play  —  we  suppose  that  some 
irate  Titan,  dwelling  beyond  the  skies,  has  hinted 
disapproval  of  the  stock  exchange,  or  of  faro  and 
bridge.  And  so  long  as  we  permit  events  to  over- 
whelm us  wholesale,  so  long  we  must  continue  to 
invent  myths.  Accordingly,  in  its  last  analysis, 
science  comprises  no  more  —  and  no  less  —  than  a 
concentrated  effort  to  understand  a  group  of  like 
facts,  by  isolating  them  from  the  bewildering  mob, 
and  thinking  about  them  with  rigid  consistency.  The 
human  intent  here  is  to  gain  mastery,  to  dispel  igno- 
rance, to  discover  means  that  may  lessen  our  terrible 
impotence.     Thus  we  see  clearly  why,  in  its  very 


THE    PREESTABLISIIED    DISCORD  205 

nature,  science  cannot  but  be  abstract.  Experience 
meets  us  in  such  doubtful  guise  that,  unless  we  sepa- 
rate a  part  from  the  whole  and  treat  it,  for  our  immedi- 
ate purposes,  as  if  it  were  still  the  whole,  we  are  bogged 
in  intellectual  and  practical  babyhood.  Any  science 
one  cares  to  name  affirms  its  particular  subject-matter, 
and  its  particular  aim,  in  opposition  primarily  to  the 
necessary  vagueness  of  the  empirical  sum-total.  It 
claims  the  right  to  construct  its  own  special  purview, 
and  stands  ready  to  be  judged  by  results.  Candidly, 
it  starts  from  and  ends  with  a  hypothesis.  //  the 
conditions  governing  the  events  selected  for  examina- 
tion be  so  and  so,  tlien  such  and  such  consequences 
may,  usually  do,  ensue.  But  these  conditions  find 
place  in  the  chosen  sphere  only.  A  physics  of  faith, 
an  ethics  of  granite,  are  imaginary  and  inapplicable. 

Take  a  familiar  illustration.  The  astronomer 
avers  that  the  moon  "must  be  revolving  in  a  nearly 
circular  path  round  the  earth  as  centre."  Un- 
doubtedly, this  seems  a  most  innocent  and  incontes- 
table proposition.  It  recommends  itself  quickly  to 
all  except  the  crank  whose  '  perception '  proves  the 
earth  fiat.  Nevertheless,  the  slightest  examination 
serves  to  convince  that  the  statement  can  mean  some- 
thing only  if  certain  eliminations  be  permitted.  In 
other  words,  the '  universe '  where  the  judgement  holds 


2o6    MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

true  is  the  creation  of  what  we  may  term  the  astro- 
nomical intellect.  For,  on  a  little  reflexion,  we  find 
the  sun  productive  of  perturbations  such  that  the 
alleged  path  of  our  satellite  continues  but  a  moment 
on  the  arc  of  any  given  circle  and,  immediately  after- 
wards, follows  that  of  another,  and  so  on  indefinitely. 
Now  this  sum  of  hypothetical  positions  might  combine, 
conceivably,  to  produce  a  waving  curve  circular  on 
the  whole  —  "a  series  of  curves  with  their  concave 
sides  downwards."  Yet,  even  so,  the  earth  happens 
to  be  speeding  its  impressive  whirl  about  the  sun; 
accordingly,  admit  this  second  disturbance,  and  the 
"circular  on  the  whole"  conveys  no  meaning  what- 
ever. Further,  the  sun  acts  like  a  giant  locomotive, 
pulling  the  solar  system  ''through  the  heavens"  at 
fearsome  pace,  relative  to  the  positions  of  other  stars. 
Moreover,  as  astronomy  itself  has  come  to  know  well 
recently,  these  other  stars  are  active  participants  in 
the  sublime  procession.  Import  all  your  conditions, 
and  you  are  bound  to  confess  that  you  are  as  ignorant 
of  the  moon's  orbit  about  its  primary  as  you  are  of  all 
that  lies  — 

"Beyond  the  path  of  the  utmost  star  through  utter  dark- 
ness hurled." 

Is  the  astronomer,  then,  a  kind  of  amiable  lunatic? 
By  no  means  —  any  mariner  will  tell  you  that  he  is  a 


THE    PREESTABLISHED    DISCORD  207 

most  useful  animal;  for,  has  he  not  pointed  out  that 
this  very  motion  of  the  moon  furnishes  a  master-clock, 
to  keep  tab  on  the  chronometers  during  a  long  voyage? 
Nor  is  the  implied  contradiction  so  extraordinary  as 
it  appears.  To  obtain  unified  knowledge,  the  as- 
tronomer has  adopted  a  certain  method  of  procedure, 
one  so  well  understood  as  to  be  conventional  —  that 
is  all.  Perhaps,  indeed,  he  presumed  too  much  on 
the  capacity  of  the  layman  in  his  positive  statement. 
For,  what  he  intended  to  say  was  this :  if  you  have 
two  masses  such  as  the  earth  and  the  moon,  constitut- 
ing a  system  in  which  the  primary  and  the  satellite 
move  at  a  mean  distance  of  240,000  miles;  and  if 
their  motions  be  not  perturbed  by  interference,  then 
the  path  of  the  moon  with  the  earth  as  centre  will  be 
nearly  circular.  Granted,  some  wiseacre  will  argue, 
but  what  right  has  the  astronomer  to  eliminate  these 
known  perturbations  ?  The  reply  is.  This  is  the  es- 
sential method  of  science.  If,  within  any  group  of 
empirical  events,  you  find  it  possible  to  cancel  con- 
comitant phenomena,  because  they  do  not  create  dis- 
turbance sufficient  to  compel  an  accounting,  then,  for 
practical  purposes,  you  may  treat  them  as  non-existent. 
Otherwise,  advance  in  knowledge  would  be  impossible. 
And,  mutatis  mutandis,  the  younger  sciences  follow 
their  venerable  sister  —  to  them  she  offers  a  type  of 


2o8    MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

'  exact '  work.  Nay,  if  they  could  but  translate  their 
synopses  into  the  terms  of  her  vast  simplicity,  they 
would  compass  assurance  uncloyed  by  hesitation. 

It  will  not  surprise  us  to  learn,  then,  that  no  cau- 
tious scientific  man  transgresses  his  self-imposed 
limits.  He  refuses  to  affirm  that  his  conclusions, 
or  those  of  his  science,  suffice  to  explain  the  totality 
of  experience.  Sensible  of  irrevocable  conditions, 
he  will  not  commit  himself  to  more  than  this :  *  Permit 
me  to  concentrate  attention  upon  a  group  of  similar 
or  identical  events;  permit  me  to  discard  all  indi- 
vidual (maybe  freakish)  factors  within  this  group  in- 
considerable enough  to  disturb  unitary  grasp;  this 
agreed,  I  undertake  to  tell,  nay,  to  foretell,  what  is 
very  likely  to  happen  within  the  circle  of  known  or 
observed  phenomena.  Natural  laws  embody  human 
judgements;  cause  is  an  indispensable  tool  in  man's 
intellectual  armoury;  a  hypothesis  is  a  provisional 
arrangement  and,  as  provisional,  becomes  a  goad  to 
further  enquiry,  to  more  thorough  reflexion.  In  its 
own  proper  function,  science  knows  nothing  about 
law,  or  cause,  or  hypothesis  as  such,  much  less  about 
"the  moral  order  of  the  universe,"  or  about  God. 
Competent  in  variable  degrees,  dependent  upon  op- 
portunity for  investigation  and  possibility  of  formula- 
tion, the  sciences  lay  no  claim  to  dictate  in  other  fields. 


THE    PREiiSTABLISHED    DISCORD  209 

They  keep  the  peace  among  themselves.  The  sane 
physiologist  would  not  go  about  to  advance  his  work 
by  bullying  the  psychologist,  even  although  their  pur- 
suits intersect.  In  other  words,  a  cardinal  principle 
of  the  scientific  temper  is  non-interference,  because 
what  holds  in  one  sphere  may  prove  a  hindrance  in 
another,  or,  peradventure,  a  source  of  active  error. 
You  cannot  universalize  a  'positive'  science.  The 
procedure  would  evaporate  all  the  characteristics 
that  make  it  worth  while.' 

But,  if  I  have  contrived  to  render  the  position  evi- 
dent, what  is  to  be  said  about  the  touted  menagerie 
of  quasi-scientific  bogies  that  has  toured  the  Western 
world  these  last  eighty  years?  What  of  MateriaHsm, 
Agnosticism,  Naturalism,  and  so  forth  —  the  bloodless 
centaurs  that  still  harry  hapless  humanity  ?  I  would 
venture  the  guess  that,  possibly,  they  are  a  troop  of 
hallucinations  bred  by  auto-suggestion  upon  self- 
confidence.  Recent  thought  has  won  its  most  superb 
conquests  on  the  broad  field  of  positive  science.  In- 
toxicated by  success,  its  memory  needs  to  be  jogged 
on  the  subject  of  the  conditions  precedent  to  '  progress ' 
in  studies  of  this  kind.  For  all  these  rampageous 
'isms,'  if  tracked  to  their  common  lair,  prove  very 
innocuous  beasts.  One  of  them  —  Materialism  — 
met  ruthless  death  recently;    and  the  others,  para- 


2IO     MODERN  THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

doxically,  are  more  difficult  and  more  easy  to  slay  for 
one  and  the  same  reason.  More  difficult,  because 
Materialism  did  possess  what  purported  to  be  a  body; 
more  easy,  because  in  them  many  frantic  lovers  have 
contrived  to  give — 

"to  airy  nothing 
A  local  habitation  and  a  name ; " 

and  love  offers  no  atmosphere  to  criticism.  Yet  the 
delusions  yield  to  rather  elementary  scepticism  —  in 
fact,  after  all  the  pother,  this  is  their  disappointing 
feature.  We  are  met  by  another  instance  of  popular 
metaphysicizing  and,  as  usual,  of  self-deception. 
Experience  was  fated  to  humbug  itself. 

Any  science,  that  is,  any  body  of  judgements  about 
a  part  of  experience,  becomes  self-contradictory,  if 
you  insist  that  it  transform  itself  into  a  rational 
account  of  experience  as  a  whole.  Nay,  it  might  be 
maintained  that,  precisely  in  proportion  as  a  science 
conforms  to  the  ideal  of  'exactness,'  it  declines  in 
truth  when  universalized,  just  because  it  is  less  able 
to  grasp,  or  adjust,  individual  cases.  The  more  we 
can  eliminate  from  the  group  peculiar  to  a  special 
science,  the  more  'exact'  the  possible  results;  but, 
conversely,  the  less  is  the  science  equipped  to  present 
in  detail  the  larger  whole  whence  it  fissured  at  first. 


THE    PREESTABLISHED    DISCORD  211 

The  personal  escapes  it;  so  let  us  be  personal  for  a 
moment.  It  is  interesting,  no  doubt,  to  learn  that 
Mr.  Taft  weighs  nigh  three  hundred  pounds.  Yet 
this  numerical  evaluation  informs  us  no  whit  on  his 
present  meaning  —  it  is  silent  upon  the  '  how '  of 
his  nomination  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States. 
We  are  glad  to  know,  as  an  additional  fact,  that 
Senator  Fairbanks  exceeds  the  average  American  in 
height.  But,  thanks  to  the  incurable  vulgarity  of 
the  press,  his  supposititious  addiction  to  "butter- 
milk highballs"  counted  far  more  emphatically  in 
his  descent  from  the  perilous  levels  of  haute  politique. 
That  is  to  say,  the  weight  and  the  height  are  true, 
with  incomparable  truth,  in  their  proper  places,  for 
they  may  count  as  paragons  of  the  'exact.'  They 
are  thus  true,  however,  at  the  cost  of  desperate 
poverty,  when  it  comes  to  social  issues  in  the  concrete. 
The  veriest  yokel  would  bubble  with  mirth  were  one 
to  suggest  solemnly  that  they  told  "the  whole  truth." 
Unseemly  and  rude  jest  aside,  Mr.  Taft  does  not 
connote  mere  girth,  Mr.  Fairbanks  mere  length. 
Now,  the  putative  fathers  of  Naturalism  have  com- 
mitted themselves  to  just  this  Gilbertian  fancy,  and 
have  contrived  to  affiliate  upon  respectable  science  a 
precious  family  of  infant  encumbrances.  It  were 
well  to  remember  that,  within  her  own  household, 


212     MODERN   THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

no  responsibility  can  be  saddled  on  science.  Natural- 
ism is  the  latest  gift  of  the  ghostly  stork,  a  tribute  to 
the  generative  power  of  the  preestablished  discord 
immanent  in  frail  human  experience. 

Strangely  enough,  Naturalism  results  primarily, 
not  from  the  analysis  of  physical  facts,  but  from  the 
pressure  of  ideal  demands.  In  a  measure,  the  very 
existence  of  science  renders  it  inevitable;  a  supra- 
scientific  synthesis  comes  forth  to  crown  minor 
syntheses.  For,  scientific  enquiry  finds  its  dominant 
motive  in  the  desire  to  reach  complete  accuracy. 
Self-sustained  and  self-witnessing  unification  of- 
fers the  sole  end  worth  pursuit.  But,  just  on  this 
account,  human  experience  becomes  a  house  divided 
against  itself.  The  aim  thus  projected  under 
stress  of  circumstances  may  be  attained  so  far,  yet 
at  a  round  price.  Man  must  agree  to  walk  the  strait 
road  of  stringent  rule.  He  must  adopt  a  literal 
interpretation  of  the  familiar  maxim  —  this  one 
thing  I  do.  Perforce,  other  things  are  jettisoned 
ruthlessly.  Accuracy  after  its  kind  may  ensue,  but 
only  at  the  expense  of  constant  elimination.  Thus 
the  scientific  labourer  finds  his  ideal  incarnate  in  a 
definite  type  of  work,  governed  by  equally  definite 
method.  To  these  he  conforms,  whether  he  recog- 
nize his  course  fully  or  not.     A  distinguished  physiol- 


THE    PREESTABLISHED    DISCORD 


213 


ogist  of  my  acquaintance  slipped  the  cat  from  the  bag 
in  conversation  with  me  once.  We  were  debating 
the  difficulties  incident  to  various  classes  of  research, 
when  he  exclaimed  suddenly,  not  without  emotion, 
"If  only  my  subject  were  like  physics,  how  easy  it 
would  be  to  determine  the  facts."  He  implied,  of 
course,  that,  if  he  could  simplify  his  material  by 
exclusion,  many  of  his  insoluble  problems  would 
disappear.  He  failed  to  see,  however,  that  the  re- 
mainder would  not  afford  problems  in  physiology. 
Given  the  same  conditions,  were  this  practicable, 
there  is  no  reason  why  the  physiologist  should  miss 
the  'exact'  as  the  physicist  views  it.  And  here  we 
have  a  most  significant  intimation.  Most  naturally, 
the  physico-chemical  standard  of  'exact'  knowledge 
appeals  to  workers  in  other  fields  as  the  ideal  norm 
regulating  their  conformity.  Historically,  celestial 
mechanics  furnished  the  methods  of  measurement  in 
space  and  computation  in  time  that  enabled  science 
to  start  upon  its  conquering  career.  Hence,  too,  the 
negative  side  of  the  same  notion.  Many  competent 
masters  in  the  exact  sciences  cannot  conceive  how 
history  or  sociology  —  much  less  philosophy  —  have 
remote  title  to  a  place  in  the  realm  of  'positive'  study. 
Nevertheless,  they  betray  no  consciousness  of  the 
apposition    between    an    ideal    that    motivates    all 


214    MODERN  THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

research,  and  the  conditions  that  conspire  at  once  to 
satisfy  and  to  stultify  it.  So,  despite  logic,  the  partial 
satisfaction,  lying  within  reach,  comes  to  be  grasped, 
while  the  precedent,  and  indispensable,  restrictions 
to  space  and  time,  that  produce  stultification  outside 
this  limited  range,  lapse  into  oblivion.  Amid  the 
excitement  of  pursuit,  men  forget  that  the  nature  of 
its  starting-point  forces  their  chase  into  endlessness. 
The  implied  problem  evaporates,  because  — 

"  Stultus  ab  obliquo  qui  quum  descendere  possit, 
Pugnat  in  adversas  ire  natator  aquas." 

If  we  are  to  be  'exact-scientific,'  as  our  German 
friends  say,  what  conditions  frame  the  ideal?  As 
we  have  seen,  it  is  out  of  the  question  to  reach  any 
'exact'  conclusion  except  on  a  basis  of  deliberate 
simplification.  For  this  reason,  the  conditions  prove 
comparatively  simple,  all  things  considered.  They 
are  (i)  stability  or  identity  for  human  consciousness 
of  the  objects  studied;  (2)  ready  application  of 
measurement  and  enumeration;  (3)  continuity  of 
the  segregated  phenomena  on  the  whole.  Granted 
that  all  men  can  seize  essential  marks  of  the  chosen 
objects  in  the  same  way;  granted  that  series  of 
observations  can  be  averaged  and  stored  in  mathe- 
matical formulas;  granted  that  the  adopted  series  be 


THE    PREESTABLISHED    DISCORD  21 5 

continuous  —  that  it  be  divisible  into  portions  by 
any  one  of  its  terms,  yet  without  a  'real'  break,  and 
that,  therefore,  any  term  may  be  referred  to  another 
as  its  precise  consequent;  then  you  obtain  a  flow  of 
inevitable  sequences,  and  partial  induction  may  be 
lifted  to  the  level  of  confident  prediction.  In  short, 
you  possess  a  scheme  which  works  admirably  within 
its  range.  Moreover,  you  are  bound  to  admit  its 
competence  so  long  as  it  keeps  its  own  corner  of  the 
garden.  So  far,  so  good.  But  the  question  arises 
forthwith,  What  follows  from  the  admission,  or 
adoption,  of  these  self-denying  ordinances  necessary 
to  'exact'  results?  The  answer  lies  on  the  surface. 
Let  us  take  the  requirements  successively. 

(i)  What  kind  of  information  about  any  objects 
do  all  men  possess  in  common?  Plainly  they  know 
such  characters  as  are  dependent  upon  the  external 
senses  or,  otherwise,  such  as  are  capable  of  expression 
in  unequivocal  symbols.  Conceptions  differ  enor- 
mously from  individual  to  individual,  but  perceptions 
possess  a  relative  identity,  stable  enough  for  practical 
purposes.  I  cannot,  by  any  alchemy,  transfer  my 
concrete  mental,  moral,  and  emotional  states  to 
another;  but  I  can  illustrate  some  few  of  them  by 
means  of  symbols  that  hold  universally  for  the  special 
senses.     No  unity  of  experience  is  practicable  for 


2l6     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

a  knowledge  compressible  into  precise  terms,  except 
the  very  general  judgements  based  upon  the  organ- 
ism of  percipients.  What  we  call  spiritual  life,  for 
example,  is  so  acutely  personal  as  to  evade  simple 
transfer  from  man  to  man.  Accordingly,  for  the 
purposes  of  science,  the  unity  of  experience  means 
no  more  than  the  average  identity  of  impressions  of 
sense.  Hence,  of  course,  the  crude  doctrine,  that 
experience  is  these  impressions,  and  naught  besides. 
The  real  fact  happens  to  be  that  we  have  restricted 
experience  ourselves,  by  adopting  a  specific  attitude 
towards  it,  for  a  concerted  and  entirely  justifiable 
purpose.  The  preestablished  discord,  that  is,  pivots 
upon  an  attempt  to  extrude  the  ideal  element,  in 
order  to  arrive  at  an  ideal.  Deny  the  ideal,  in  an 
effort  to  universalize  the  partial  position,  and  illusion 
becomes  the  unavoidable  consequence.  The  scien- 
tific transcription  is  true  on  its  own  recognizances,  but 
misses  application  to  the  ideal  process  whereon  this 
truth  depends.  Sense  averages  are  predicable  of 
sense  averages;  the  effort  to  employ  them  elsewhere 
occasions  the  worst  stultifications  of  misunder- 
standing. 

(2)  The  call  for  the  reduction  to  standards  of 
number  and  measurement  flows  directly  from  what  is 
known  as  the  Law  of  Parsimony.     Among  its  many 


THE    PREESTABLISHED    DISCORD  217 

invaluable  services,  positive  science  has  devised  a 
magnificent  scheme  of  syncoj)ation.  Given  an 
'exact'  result,  given  the  means  of  reproducing  it 
unchanged,  and  you  may  adopt  it  fearlessly  as  the 
sure  basis  for  further  work.  You  inherit  the  harvest 
of  the  ages  for  your  use.  Now,  we  cannot  store  our 
imaginations,  loves,  sorrows,  in  this  fashion.  Hence 
their  intense  strain  upon  temperament.  But  we  can 
minimize  intellectual  labour,  by  employing  the  tri- 
umphs of  our  predecessors,  in  relation  to  events 
capable  of  retention  by  terms  of  number  and  magni- 
tude. Omit  the  specifically  human,  treat  those  of 
'our'  events  in  which  we  stand  on  a  level  with  the 
rest  of  the  cosmos  and  become  accidents  of  it,  as 
if  they  alone  spoke  our  secret,  and  you  can  formulate 
per  X  and  y  with  thoroughgoing  success.  Still, 
remember  all  the  while  that  you  can  so  proceed  only 
with  regard  to  "many-one  relations  of  all  times  to 
some  places,  or  of  all  terms  of  a  continuous  one- 
dimensional  series  t  to  some  terms  of  a  continuous 
three-dimensional  series  5."  ^  Here,  once  again,  an 
ideal  has  dictated  the  means  to  its  own  realization; 
these  means,  as  applied  irrationally  to  all  experience 
by  Naturalism,  expel  the  ideal  reference.     And  so, 

'  The   Principles   of   Mathematics,    Bertrand   Russell,    vol.    i, 
P-  473- 


2l8     MODERN  THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

when  one  tries  to  universalize  them,  the  illusion 
prevails  that  the  ideally  arranged  conditions  furnish 
irrefragable  proof  of  the  non-existence  of  the  ideal. 

(3)  The  demands  just  noticed  concern  the  nature 
of  experience  itself.  The  third  bears  another  refer- 
ence. It  asks  that  the  object  of  knowledge  assume 
a  nature  of  its  own  —  that  it  must  be  continuous. 
In  the  present  connexion,  I  cannot  diverge  to  pur- 
sue the  necessary  analysis,  for  it  leads  straight  to 
the  difficult  and,  frankly,  ill-understood,  problem  of 
causality.  One  would  suppose  that,  at  this  late  date, 
Hume  had  contrived  to  clear  men's  minds  of  cant 
about  cause;  unfortunately  it  is  not  so.  Notwith- 
standing, it  is  clear  that,  unless  a  series  of  phenomena 
be  continuous,  the  connexion  of  one  event  (as  effect) 
with  another  (as  cause)  transcends  possibility. 
Causes  and  effects,  as  such,  are  bound  to  rank  as 
occurrences  in  a  single,  seamless  process.  Apart 
from  this  texture,  'exact'  science  would  prove  the 
merest  dream.  Now,  the  'fact'  owes  its  existence, 
not  to  a  universal  series,  but  to  a  special  series  sys- 
tematized ideally  in  a  certain  way.  A  logical  prin- 
ciple of  synthetic  unity  betrays  its  presence  in  causal- 
ity —  or  there  are  neither  causes  nor  effects.  Thus, 
to  obtain  our  results  of  precision,  we  posit  an  ideal 
truth;    and  then,  in  our  naive  Naturalism,  proceed 


THE    PREESTABLISHED    DISCORD  219 

to  deny  the  ideal  on  the  basis  of  its  own  consequences. 
I  know  this  is  not  philosophy,  I  should  be  "black 
ashamed"  were  I  compelled  to  suppose  it  science. 

On  the  whole,  then,  and  from  the  nature  of  the 
case.  Naturalism  offers  but  another  example  of  the 
preestablished  discord  that  overtakes  men  whenever 
they  try  to  explain  their  'universe'  by  reference  even 
to  their  best  knowledge  of  a  small  part  thereof. 
Further,  it  happens  to  be  no  conclusion  from  any,  or 
from  all,  science.  Fundamentally,  it  is  a  meta- 
physical speculation  invented  to  account  for  the 
presence  of  the  ideal  eliminations  under  which 
science  originates  and  must  proceed.  Huxley's 
brilliant  analogy  of  the  garden  which,  though  a 
"result  of  the  cosmic  process,  working  through  and 
by  human  energy,  the  influences  of  the  state  of  nature 
are  constantly  tending  to  destroy,"  ^  offers  an  ad- 
mirable illustration  of  the  inner  contradiction  that 
drives  humanity  to  seek  rest,  not  in  a  lesser  whole 
universalized  illegitimately,  but  in  the  broad  sweep 
of  a  larger  life.  Yet  the  pure  intellect  fails  to  absorb 
the  lesson  ere  it  has  ventured  upon  the  universalizing 
process,  oblivious  of  the  initial  restrictions  that  made 
its  practical  use  successful.  But  when,  overcome 
by  the  deep  and  inevitable  contradictions  that  arise, 

*  Cf.  Evolution  and  Ethics:  Collected  Works,  vol.  ix,  pp.  9  f,  • 


220    MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

it  proceeds,  as  it  did  at  last  in  Huxley's  person  and 
swan-song,  to  try  again  in  an  ethical  realm,  it  simply 
obeys  the  necessary  logic  born  of  its  analytic  devices, 
which  accomplish  results  by  open  neglect  of  re- 
mainders. For  Naturalism  "begins  with  real  bodies 
in  empty  space,  and  ends  with  ideal  motions  in  an 
imperceptible  plenum.  It  begins  with  the  dynamics 
of  ordinary  masses,  and  ends  with  a  medium  that 
needs  no  dynamics  or  has  dynamics  of  its  own.  But 
between  beginning  and  end,  there  are  stages  innumer- 
able; in  other  words,  the  end  is  an  unattainable 
ideal."  ^  A  tale  that  is  told,  Naturalism  may  be 
dismissed  with  a  tale.  A  Scot,  given  to  the  vices  of 
his  folk,  informed  his  minister  that  he  intended  to 
travel  in  Bible  lands.  "When  I  climb  tae  the  top  of 
Mt.  Sinai,"  he  added,  "  I'm  gaen  for  tae  read  the  Ten 
Commandments."  The  wise  and  witty  parson  re- 
plied, "Man,  Sandy,  ye'd  faur  better  bide  at  hame 
and  keep  them."  If  the  representatives  of  the  posi- 
tive sciences  would  stick  to  their  last,  —  and,  re- 
mark, the  best  usually  do,  —  advance  would  not  be 
stayed,  to  say  the  least;  and  we  should  not  have  to 
encounter  delays  due  to  bewildering  fogs  of  bad 
metaphysics.     As  Professor  Mach  has  pointed  out, 

^  Naturalism  and   Agnosticism,   James    Ward,   vol.  i,  p.    153 
(ist  ed.). 


THE    PREESTABLISHED    DISCORD  221 

"the  highest  philosophy  of  the  scientific  investigator 
is  precisely  toleralion  for  an  incomplete  conception  of 
the  world  and  the  preference  for  it,  rather  than  an 
apparently  perfect  but  inadequate  conception."  ^ 
But,  worse  luck,  man  is  not  built  this  way.  He 
must  criticise  his  scientific  categories;  and  he  finds 
frequent  vent  for  his  need  in  the  supposition  that 
their  transfer  to  a  suprascientific  field  constitutes 
criticism.  Nay,  he  spurns  deliverance  from  this 
body  of  death.  Naturalism,  the  executioner  of  the 
ideal  life,  remains  a  standing  witness  to  this  very  life 
■ —  only  it  stands  on  its  head.  Its  easy  psychology, 
beatified  in  epiphenomenalism,  fails  to  transcribe 
the  concrete  facts  of  the  psychical  process,  and  dis- 
plays laughable  contentment  with  a  conspectus  of 
parts  riven  from  the  whole.  Still,  it  were  worse 
than  useless  to  complain.  For,  once  again,  we 
are  — 

"Striking  the  electric  chain  wherewith  we  are  darkly  bound." 

In  conclusion,  we  pass  to  the  decisions  of  the  his- 
torico-critical  method.  At  the  close  of  a  lecture,  it  is 
far  from  my  intention  to  canvass  one  of  the  most 
difficult  problems  now  before  the  human  mind  —  the 
ultimate  import  of  history,  and  the  consequent  re- 

^  The  Science  of  Mechanics,  p.  464  (2d  Eng.  ed.). 


222     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

lation  of  precise  historical  knowledge  to  the  vahdity 
of  religious  belief.^  For  the  question  necessitates  a 
profound  critical  excursus  into  the  legitimate  mean- 
ings of  the  terms  'Time'  and  'Eternity.'  Besides, 
philosophy  herself  stands  but  on  the  threshold  of 
this  baffling  subject.  However,  I  must  try  to  ex- 
hibit the  movement  of  the  preestablished  discord 
within  the  historical  range.  It  infects  the  stand- 
point of  history,  when  universalized,  no  less  than 
the  popular  metaphysics  of  science.  When  the  rude 
facts  concerning  Jesus,  as  adjusted  with  cool  accu- 
racy by  historical  method,  are  taken,  and  when  the 
'historical'  allegations  as  formulated  in  the  Apos- 
tles' Creed,  say,  are  placed  in  juxtaposition,  but  one 
inference  can  follow.  It  is  this.  Christians  of  the 
traditional  type  seem  to  have  been  fated  to  make 
tarts  from  Dead  Sea  fruit.  What  was,  as  the  actual 
record  runs,  is  neither  what  they  are  required  to 
believe,  nor  what  many  of  them  desire  it  to  have  been. 
Cook  the  ingredients  as  you  will,  the  brew  smacks  of 
anticlimax.  Mutat  quadratarotundis,  as  Horace  said. 
As  an  evident  consequence,  we  encounter  the  pre- 
estabhshed    discord    in    another   of   its    ubiquitous 

^  I  may  be  permitted  to  refer  to  my  paper,  Historic  Fact  and 
Christian  Validity,  read  in  part  at  the  Detroit  meeting  of  the 
American  Church  Congress,  May  14,  1908,  and  printed  in  full 
in  the  Proceedings. 


THE    PREESTABLISHED    DISCORD  223 

phases,  one  distressing  beyond  measure  to  all  faith- 
ful souls.  It  were  well  worth  while,  accordingly,  to 
pursue  it,  if  only  a  short  way. 

What  is  the  consensus  of  opinion  about  history 
among  experts,  whose  competence  guarantees  their 
right  to  testify?  The  reply  admits  of  no  doubt. 
History  is,  first  and  foremost,  a  series  in  time.  As 
such,  it  presents  two  characteristics,  so  essential 
that,  apart  from  them,  it  would  become  a  vapid 
phantasmagoria.  It  is  single,  and  irreversible.  In 
other  words,  it  must  conform  to  the  demand  for 
continuity,  just  like  the  material  of  physical  science, 
and  its  terms  must  interlock  in  some  form  of  causal 
relation.  Given  these  conditions,  and  history  falls 
within  the  circle  of  practicable  research;  withdraw 
them,  and  the  science  goes  to  pieces.  That  is, 
history  betrays  determination  after  its  kind  and, 
within  the  sweep  of  the  determination,  the  parts 
played  by  single  events  or  individuals  may  be  re- 
duced to  the  level  of  accidents.  They  hold  no  sort 
of  virtue  in  their  own  right,  as  it  were,  because  their 
hammered  concatenation  in  the  sequence  alone  be- 
stows significance.  The  "fatahsm  of  facts,"  fore- 
seen long  ago  by  Quinet,  rules  now,  a  conditio  sine 
qud  non.  As  we  saw  in  the  case  of  science,  so  in 
that  of  history,  it  were  worse  than  useless  to  vent 


224     MODERN   THOUGHT    AND   THE    CRISIS    IN    BELIEF 

complaint.  For  the  complainants  inhabit  outer 
darkness,  as  concerns  ability  to  sit  in  judgement. 
We  might  just  as  well  carp  at  the  physicist,  and 
refuse  to  have  water  led  into  our  houses,  because 
water  does  not  rise  to  its  own  level,  as  dismiss 
the  historian,  learned  in  the  'causes'  of  the  Boston 
Tea  Party.  In  practice,  we  agree  with  both.  Why  ? 
Because  both  can  plead  the  same  justification 
for  the  conditions  necessary  to  their  craft;  with- 
out the  antecedent  standpoint,  neither  science  nor 
history  could  exist  to  serve  mankind.  Remove 
continuity  and  cause,  you  shatter  the  very  possi- 
bility of  history.  Vague  generalities,  a  priori  ab- 
stractions, idealistic  formulae,  never  give  body  to 
history;  on  the  contrary,  they  cloud  the  factual 
issues.  Take  Augustine's  delicate  fancy:  "Deus 
.  .  .  ita  ordinem  saeculorum  tanquam  pulcherrimum 
carmen  etiam  ex  quibusdam  quasi  antithetis  hones- 
taret;"  ^  it  may  rank  as  excellent  poetic  license  — 
about  real  history  it  tells  less  than  nothing.  A  series 
of  causal  filiations  never  moves  even  remotely  like 
rhetorical  'contraposition,'  as  Quintilian  called  it. 
Along  with  all  other  objects  amenable  to  a  single 
systematic  order,  historical  units  happen  under  the 
strait  limits  of  space  and  time.     To  write  history  is 

*  De  Civ.  Dei,  xi,  i8. 


THE    FREEST ABLISHED    DISCORD  225 

to  uncover  the  causal  filaments,  by  inexhaustible 
diligence  in  amassing  the  incidental  occurrences, 
by  impartial  judgement  of  evidence  and,  on  this 
basis,  to  elicit  'explanation'  of  the  facts  from  the 
correlations  traceable  within  their  own  process. 
The  death  of  this  man,  therefore,  ranks  on  a  level 
with  the  death  of  that.  Find  the  relevant  circum- 
stances, follow  the  phenomenal  interplay  and, 
irreversible  sequence  given,  events  will  be  found 
to  explain  themselves  on  the  same  general  lines. 
Nothing  remains  to  be  added.  Anything  else 
would  transcend  the  canons  of  history,  ipso  facto, 
history  would  cease.  Within  this  purview,  on  the 
face  of  it,  no  demise  of  an  individual  can  acquire 
exceptional  meaning  for  religion.  And,  as  for  posi- 
tive science,  so  for  history,  we  are  bound  to  accept 
its  own  account  of  itself  without  reserve.  Encased 
in  crass  ignorance  of  every  method  and  canon  of 
judgement  used,  the  average  man  dare  not  do  less. 
His  practice  shows  his  sense;  he  takes  his  history, 
as  he  takes  his  train  —  on  its  own  terms. 

Nevertheless,  time  out  of  mind,  organized  Chris- 
tianity has  insisted  that  a  tiny  morsel  of  history, 
minute  in  time,  circumscribed  in  space,  be  wrenched 
from  the  vast  series  and  exempted  from  normal 
conditions.     Splendide  audax,  as  only  the  oblivious 

Q 


226    MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

can  be,  the  official  Christian  bases  his  hope  of  sal- 
vation upon  some  few  obscure  happenings,  of  which 
we  know  almost  nothing,  in  an  obscure  corner  of 
the  Mediterranean  world,  of  which  we  know  little. 
He  alleges  that  they  were  historical  occurrences, 
abnormal  to  infinity.  And  yet,  as '  exact '  history  sees 
these  things,  less  than  no  evidence  exists  to  raise  them 
from  the  rank  and  file  marching  in  causal  sequence. 
Moreover,  the  adherents  of  other  ethnic  religions 
have  set,  and  followed,  the  same  example.  The 
historical  attitude  to  Buddhism  and  Mahommedan- 
ism  stands  on  all  fours  with  its  ultimatum  to  Chris- 
tianity. Could  the  preestablished  discord  go  far- 
ther, or  make  us  fare  worse?  I  think  not.  For, 
consider  the  tremendous  character  of  the  apposi- 
tion. Historically,  Jesus  was  a  man,  born  like 
other  Jews,  circumstanced  as  his  neighbours;  a 
disturber  of  civil  peace  —  tried,  condemned,  and 
executed  like  other  undesirables;  then  a  corpse, 
entombed,  and  returned  to  dust  like  other  corpses. 
Yet,  for  Christianity,  despite  the  prosaic  noncha- 
lance of  historical  facts,  "  God  so  loved  the  world, 
that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  ever- 
lasting life";  and,  "If  Christ  be  not  risen  from  the 
dead,  then  your  faith  is  in  vain."     Again,  I  ask. 


THE    PREESTABLISHED    DISCORD  227 

could  discord  go  farther  ?  *  Evidently,  the  events 
as  possible  within  any  causal  time-series,  and  the 
affirmations  of  belief,  move  on  two  totally  different 
planes.  Notwithstanding,  Christians  have  been  for- 
ward to  urge  that  their  religion  finds  its  sole  sure 
basis  within  the  time-series  where,  historically,  it 
cannot  belong,  by  any  admission  open  to  contempo- 
rary knowledge.  Further,  the  Christian  allegation 
is  not  susceptible  of  proof  by  objective  evidence, 
nay,  the  evidence  now  recoverable  has  been  turned 
against  it  with  terrible  effect.  The  appeal  to  his- 
tory, once  taken  so  confidently,  has  declined  to  the 
dismal  level  of  a  cry  ad  misericordiam  — '  for  any 
sake,  and  in  the  name  of  anything  you  hold  holy, 
allow  the  probability  or,  at  least,  the  possibility,  of 
our  plea' !  Verily,  a  situation  profoundly  pathetic  ! 
It  needs  no  keen  perspicacity  to  see  that  here,  as 
with  the  scientific  consciousness,  the  preestablished 
discord  has  eventuated  in  an  impassable  chasm. 
As  the  conditions  precedent  to  'exact'  science  baulk 
the  satisfaction  of  desire  to  rationalize  the  universe, 
so  the  standpoint  inseparable  from  causal  history 
vetoes  the  longing  of  religion  to  detect  a  special 

*  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  point  out  that  this  discord  underlies 
the  problem  of  Christology  in  its  classical  forms  (cf.  my  article 
Christology,  in  Baldwin's  Dictionary  of  Philosophy  and  Psychology). 


228     MODERN   THOUGHT  AND   THE  CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

revelation  in  some  events  incident  to  the  hazy  past. 
But  the  cases  are  not  parallel  entirely.  Driven  by 
the  innate  human  demand  for  an  explanation  of  all 
things,  the  scientific  consciousness  attempts  self- 
satisfaction  by  spinning  a  theory  out  of  enumerations 
in  time  and  measurements  in  space  —  limitations 
inapplicable  to  any  consciously  presented  kosmos 
whatsoever.  As  a  result,  men  are  condemned  to 
labour  in  a  quarry  for  fallacies.  Driven  by  the 
human  demand  for  a  definite  guarantee  of  the  com- 
pletion which  religion  seeks,  the  Christian  attempts 
self-satisfaction  by  transfiguring  a  fragment  torn 
from  the  temporal  series  of  history,  where  religion, 
as  contact  with  the  eternal,  cannot  abide.  As  a 
result,  men  find  themselves  abandoned,  defenceless, 
to  the  panoplied  assault  of  rationalism.  The  same 
effort  of  human  nature,  to  achieve  an  inclusive  ex- 
perience, results  in  the  same  discord,  though  by  dif- 
ferent processes. 

Thus,  the  preliminary  stage  of  our  constructive  en- 
quiry appears  to  end  in  a  stalemate.  Yet  we  have 
gained  something.  In  the  first  place,  and  nega- 
tively, we  have  found  that  a  mechanical  phenome- 
nalism, confined  to  quantitative  forms  in  space  and 
time,  cannot  furnish  means  to  formulate  an  expla- 
nation of  experience  on  the  whole.    It  omits  the 


THE    PREESTABLISHED   DISCORD  229 

very  things  most  in  need  of  explanation,  and  without 
this  omission  could  not  proceed  with  its  own  work. 
Beyond  its  chosen  range  it  is  helpless,  because 
quite  impracticable,  when  individual  variations  call 
for  an  accounting.  In  the  second  place,  and  still 
negatively,  we  have  found  that  Christian  phenome- 
nalism, which  would  set  the  fundamental  truths  of 
religion  in  an  irreversible  time-series,  is  helpless  to 
discover  them  there,  without  destruction  of  the 
entire  posited  series.  In  the  third  place,  and  posi- 
tively, we  have  found  that  both  movements  issue 
from  an  inalienable  need  of  our  nature,  and  that, 
forced  by  its  clamour  to  these  issues,  men  become 
entangled  in  insoluble  contradictions.  Nothing  else 
could  come  of  essays  either  to  make  the  conceptions 
of  'exact'  science  include  the  entire  content  of 
experience,  or  the  sources  of  historical  knowledge  — 
knowledge  about  a  religion  —  the  principal  and 
normative  content  of  religion  itself.  Accordingly, 
we  have  travelled  so  far  as  to  be  able  to  rid  ourselves 
of  a  self-stultifying  Naturalism,  which  cannot  pro- 
ceed from  an  abstract  universe,  'outside'  conscious- 
ness supposedly,  to  the  universal  in  consciousness. 
But  we  have  not  succeeded  in  ridding  ourselves  of 
self-contradictory  religious  supernaturalism,  which 
cannot  proceed  from  a  timeless  universe  to  an  event 


230     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

at  once  in  time  and  unmediated  by  time.  We  have 
been  able  to  see  also  that  the  root  of  error  is  the  same 
in  both  cases  —  the  imperative  call  of  human  expe- 
rience for  self-satisfaction,  baulked,  however,  by 
unawareness  of  the  precedent  conditions.  By  its 
very  nature,  no  mathematical  computation  can  com- 
pass the  ethico-religious  consciousness.  By  its  very 
nature,  no  unit  incidental  to  an  irreversible  order 
can  pose  as  quod  semper,  quod  ubique,  et  quod  ah 
omnibus.  Specific  historical  events  command  cre- 
dence only  on  specific  historical  evidence;  and  per- 
sonal religion  has  no  measure  in  common  with  such 
events.  We  must  insist  over  and  over  again  that 
the  religious  object  cannot  be  prisoned  within  the 
integument  of  historical  science.  Yet  Christians 
have  cherished  the  supposition  that  they  would 
find  it  here  more  completely  than  elsewhere.  The 
consequent  puzzle  pays  but  another  tribute  to  the 
immanent  process  that  governs  the  preestablished 
discord. 

We  are  driven,  therefore,  to  "try  the  great  ocean" 
of  the  ethico-religious  consciousness  itself.  Mayhap 
we  shall  fare  better;  for,  if  no  more,  at  least  man 
has  illustrated  the  activities  most  characteristic  of 
his  peculiar  being  on  this  limitless  area.  Perhaps, 
we  shall  discover  reason  to  conclude  that,  while  all 


THE    PREESTABLISHED    DISCORD  23 1 

that  is  temporal  exists,  not  all  that  exists  is  temporal. 
If  so,  we  ought  to  be  in  a  position  to  transcend 
'exact'  history.  Perhaps,  we  may  come  to  under- 
stand that  the  future,  rather  than  the  past,  sets  the 
norms  of  the  religious  career.  If  so,  we  might  be 
able  to  regard  causal  reference  in  time,  not  as  a 
negligible  quantity,  indeed,  but  as  a  subordinate 
function. 


LECTURE   VI 

THE   ADJOURNMENT   OF   WELL-BEING 

Any  one  who  has  tried  to  reach  consistent  ideas 
on  the  thorny  subject,  would  agree  readily  that  the 
.ethical  consciousness  presents  grievous  difficulties. 
Its  elusive  movement  seems  to  mock  with  subtler 
irony,  the  more  faithfully  one  follows.  And,  if  this 
be  true  for  the  careful  student,  who  aims  at  a  uni- 
tary construction,  it  strikes  home,  no  less  sharply, 
to  the  ordinary  observer,  or  actor,  in  common  life. 
Customary  affairs  of  conduct  produce  numerous 
dilemmas  from  hour  to  hour.  How  often  the  de- 
cent citizen  finds  himself  in  a  strait  between  two, 
and  asks.  Who  will  show  me  the  good?  BafBed 
thus  on  both  sides,  which  together  exhaust  the  field, 
small  wonder  that  we  should  hesitate  when  com- 
pelled to  seek  a  point  of  departure  for  our  enquiry. 
Moral  situations  afford  few  decisive  hints,  thanks 
to  their  diflferentiated  multiplicity;  moral  philoso- 
phies turn  out  so  various,  and  so  personal,  as  to 
furnish  no  foothold   satisfactory  to  all.     By  good 

232 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  233 

luck,  however,  especially  in  the  present  connexion, 
religion  itself  has  been  prone  to  display  an  unmis- 
takable attitude  towards  the  relative  value  of  the 
moral  life.  'Moreover,  whether  we  select  religious 
theory,  as  illustrated  in  theology,  or  religious  prac- 
tice, as  followed  by  the  Church,  this  disposition 
makes  itself  felt,  with  significant  consequences. 
Here,  at  all  events,  our  feet  touch  solid  ground. 
Accordingly,  I  invite  you  to  approach  the  ethical 
consciousness  by  way  of  two  questions,  put  into  our 
lips  by  religion,  not  least  by  Christianity.  In  the 
first  place.  Why  have  the  ethnic  religions  tended 
more  or  less  strongly  —  but  tended  quite  plainly  on 
the  whole  —  to  relegate  moral  conduct  to  a  plane 
of  secondary  importance?  No  doubt,  none  of 
them  dismiss  it  as  if  it  were  negligible;  often  they 
stress,  even  strain,  it  —  we  have  all  heard  of  "  the 
Law,"  and  of  Christian  Ethics.  Nevertheless,  it 
hardly  ranks  with  "the  one  thing  needful."  In  the 
second  place.  Why  has  the  Church  met  such  move- 
ments as  'Ethical  Culture'  with  active  hostility, 
or  with  impatience,  or  with  almost  open  contempt? 
Or,  coming  down  to  date.  Why  do  so  many  reli- 
gious folk  shake  their  heads  troublously  over  that 
recent  development  baptized,  by  a  delightful  pleo- 
nasm, the  "institutional  church"?     Were  all  these 


234    MODERN   THOUGHT  AND   THE  CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

modern  phenomena  merely  fresh  eddies  on  the 
broken  surface  of  our  evanescent  day,  they  might 
signify  Httle.  But  it  seems  unquestionable  that, 
after  religion  has  attained  a  certain  stage  of  self- 
consciousness,  has  grown  aware  clearly  of  its  dis- 
tinctive nature,  this  attitude  settles  into  a  perma- 
nent characteristic.  Nay,  evidence  could  be  led 
for  the  thesis  that,  in  proportion  as  religion  realizes 
itself  adequately,  the  subordination  of  the  ethical 
standpoint  receives  emphasis.  Pray  note,  I  am 
not  raising  the  problem  of  the  ultimate  relation 
between  religion  and  morality.  I  am  only  drawing 
attention  to  the  patent  fact,  that,  in  its  large  sweep, 
religion  tends  to  regard  moral  conduct  as  of  inferior 
importance  to  something  else  —  what,  we  need  not 
enquire  just  now;  and  that,  as  religion  reaches 
completer  expression  in  degree,  this  inclination 
appears  to  become  a  regulative  factor  in  its  explicit 
outlook.  Sharpened  by  these  pregnant  hints,  we 
may  start  —  fairly  enough,  I  think  —  with  the 
question.  What  justification,  if  any,  has  religion  for 
such  procedure?  Obviously,  all  things  considered, 
the  situation  warrants  not  a  little  curiosity.  For, 
why  should  religion  behave  superciliously  to  morals  ? 
At  the  outset,  it  must  be  understood  distinctly 
that  religion  does  not  censure  the  moral  life,  but 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  235 

rather  denies  its  authoritative  validity  within  some 
regions.  Kinship  is  admitted;  and  it  were  ad- 
visable to  dwell  on  this  aspect  of  the  case  for  a 
moment.  Family  jars  often  go  deepest,  intimate 
most.  A  doctrine,  by  no  means  extinct  to-day, 
teaches  that,  while  morality  may  defy  explanation, 
we  can  reduce  it  by  explaining  it  away.  That  is, 
one  can  run  it  back  to  physical  and  physiological 
causes;  this  done,  its  peculiar  importance  disap- 
pears with  its  independence.  Summarily,  it  pos- 
sesses less  reality  than  other  parts  of  experience, 
because  a  derivant,  not  an  original,  self-witnessing 
activity.  Recall,  then,  that  even  the  dubious 
attitude  of  religion,  now  under  consideration,  never 
supports  this  topsy-turvy  notion.  Rightly  so.  For 
it  requires  no  argument  to  confirm  the  self-evident 
proposition,  that  one  portion  of  experience  is  no 
more,  and  no  less,  real  than  another.  A  man's 
moral  career  constitutes  a  fact  to  be  reckoned  with 
just  as  much  as  his  chemical  or  historical  knowledge. 
Chemists  and  historians  must  encounter  problems 
of  conduct  like  their  fellow-men.  All  effective 
components  of  experience,  surely,  are  effective 
components.  To  enquire  which  are  more  real  is  to 
put  a  nonsensical  query  —  one  that  corresponds  to 
nothing  of  importance  for  an  experient.     Religion 


236    MODERN  THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

has  never  committed  itself  to  absurdities  of  this  sort 
in  its  commerce  with  morahty.  In  our  complex 
existence,  the  reality  of  moral  issues  and  their 
dilemmas  counts  equally  with  that  of  intellectual 
theories  and  their  demands.  Both  occur,  and  here 
the  matter  ends,  as  concerns  institution  of  odious 
comparisons.  Accordingly,  we  infer  that  religion 
has  not  minimized  morality,  because  it  may  be  a 
by-product  of  superabundant  bile  or  of  superior 
pancreatic  juice,  but  for  a  far  different  reason. 

Nor  is  this  all  by  any  means.  Another,  and 
more  weighty  consideration  claims  attention.  As 
we  have  seen,  'exact'  science  and  'causal'  history 
prefer  specific  conditions,  which  must  regulate 
their  material,  if  scientific  and  historical  results  are 
to  accrue.  If  you  recall  them,  as  summarized  in  the 
last  Lecture,  you  will  observe  at  once  that  none 
apply  within  the  religious  life.  For  example, 
religion  submits  to  no  enumeration  in  time,  or 
measurement  in  space;  and  it  eludes  retention  in 
mathematical  formulae.  Similarly,  it  never  mani- 
fests itself  in  a  continuous,  but  always  in  a  discon- 
tinuous, series.  It  were  a  work  of  supererogation 
to  take  the  dimensions  of  faith  in  cubic  centimetres, 
or  to  calculate  the  efhcacy  of  prayer  by  the  parallelo- 
gram of  forces.      Now,  the  moral  life  stands  twin 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  237 

to    religion    here.     Just    as    the    parallelogram  of 

forces    may    be    employed    with    equal    facility  in 

astronomy    and    physics,    so    other    standards  of 

judgement  — 

"How  sad  and  bad  and  mad  it  was  — 
But  then,  how  it  was  sweet!"  — 

apply  readily  in  the  ethical  and  religious  spheres 
alike.  So,  if  nature  be  an  elliptical  name  for  one 
kind  of  order,  conduct  and  belief  proclaim  another. 
The  conventional  phrase,  '  physical  science,'  carries 
unequivocal  signification.  For  the  unprejudiced 
student  of  human  experience  in  all  its  aspects,  the 
phrase  teleological  science  ought  to  be  no  whit  less 
clear.  Any  investigation  of  moral  and  religious 
phenomena  is  teleological.  The  material  under 
scrutiny  compels  this  description. 

But  the  term  'teleology,'  like  others  of  its  kind, 
has  descended  to  us  encompassed  with  naive  associa- 
tions. We  must  reckon  with  contemporary  usage, 
in  the  same  way  as  we  no  longer  attach  the  Greek 
sense  to  'nature.'  Therefore,  to  avoid  miscon- 
ception, especially  on  the  part  of  our  naturalistic 
friends,  who  accord  curious,  if  telltale,  importance 
to  Paley,  we  shall  try  to  explain  it.  When  one  calls 
ethical  and  religious  events  teleological,  one  proceeds 
in  the  same  way  as  the  scientific  man  when  he  classes 


238     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

physiology,  histology,  or  cytology  under  the  concept 
'biological'  —  neither  more  nor  less.  The  impli- 
cation is  this:  They  come  full  of  material  charac- 
terized throughout  by  fundamental  differentiating 
qualities.  No  objection  lies  against  the  one  word; 
similarly,  no  objection  ought  to  lie  against  the 
other.  Yet,  misfortunately,  teleology  was  "bom 
out  of  time,"  and  preempted.  It  used  to  signify 
purpose  injected  from  without,  especially  from  above. 
A  superhuman  agent  had  insinuated  a  plan  into  the 
eye,  say,  just  as  the  optician  had  constructed  the 
telescope  with  a  purpose  in  view.  It  w^ere  super- 
fluous to  record  that,  in  the  present  state  of  know- 
ledge, no  circumspect  thinker  hints  such  reference, 
any  more  than  he  posits  vitahsm  in  the  term  '  biol- 
ogy.' He  means  simply  that  the  group  of  phe- 
nomena evinces  certain  qualities  by  its  very  existence, 
and  that,  without  them,  it  would  not  conform  to 
its  known  nature.  Further,  a  teleological  event  need 
not  be  less  amenable  to  explanation  by  self-reference 
than  a  mechanical  one.  Indeed,  from  the  stand- 
point of  any  enquiry  within  human  competence, 
they  occupy  the  same  level  in  this  respect.  Man 
may  search  most  various  topics,  he  must  state  them 
all  in  terms  of  the  human  equation. 

As  the  issue  bears  directly  upon  our  whole  subject. 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF   WELL-BEING  239 

we  stop  to  ask,  What  emerges  from  it  ?  In  the  first 
place,  as  noted  in  the  last  Lecture,  the  Hnkage  be- 
tween the  members  of  a  mechanical  series  is  invariable 
and  identical,  no  matter  what  differences  separate 
terms  may  disclose  on  the  surface.  We  are  aware 
that  the  vibrations  of  a  tense  string,  and  the  dis- 
charges from  a  Leyden  jar,  propagate  themselves 
in  the  same  way.  We  are  able  even  to  devise 
experiments  such  that  the  proof  receives  ocular 
demonstration  —  nodes  and  antinodes  can  be  seen 
in  both  cases.  And  we  are  sure  that  the  same 
regular  disturbances  happen  in  an  organ  pipe. 
In  ethics  and  religion  this  stable  identity  fails. 

"Outside  should  suffice  for  evidence: 
And  whoso  desires  to  penetrate 
Deeper,  must  dive  by  the  spirit-sense  — 
No  optics  like  )^ours,  at  any  rate!" 

A  unique  activity,  one  incapable  of  prediction,  dis- 
closes itself  and,  thereafter,  the  series  undergoes 
transformation,  thanks  to  its  presence.  The  ref- 
erence runs  forward,  not  backwards.  In  other 
words,  we  meet  a  situation  such  that  causal  de- 
pendence must  be  abandoned,  if  we  would  reckon 
with  the  manifest  facts.  Apply  causality,  if  you 
will,  but  remember  that,  whatever  its  convenience, 
you  have  committed  yourself  to  the  tender  mercies 


240    MODERN  THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

of  a  misleading  analogy.  Take,  for  example,  the 
process  known  as  conversion,  whether  moral  or 
religious.  A  man  has  passed  years  in  solid  con- 
tentment with  the  conventional  standards  of  his 
profession,  class,  or  nationality.  At  length  he 
"comes  to  see  things  in  a  diifferent  light."  His 
scale  of  basal  values  vanishes  —  rank,  wealth,  in- 
fluence, what  not,  "appeal  to  him"  no  longer. 
He  has  become  a  devotee  to  scientific  research, 
mayhap.  His  old  friends  cease  to  comprehend 
him,  he  behaves  so  queerly.  In  such  a  case,  we 
have  the  outbreak  —  never  inbreak  —  of  the  new 
activity  typical  of  the  teleological,  and  therefore 
discontinuous,  series.  No  design  by  anticipation, 
special  to  just  this  end,  is  implied  necessarily  even 
from  within;  much  less  has  aught  been  injected 
for  the  specific  purpose  from  an  external,  super- 
natural source.  But  we  do  find  a  revolutionary 
quahtative  difference  —  the  very  thing  abhorrent 
to  'exact'  science  and  'causal'  history.  Were 
they  to  embrace  these  phenomena,  they  would  com- 
mit suicide.  Nevertheless,  an  angle  of  intellectual 
vision  enjoys  no  patent  to  remove  or  obliterate 
facts.  Adopt  what  standpoint  you  please,  these 
affairs  happen  to  be  effective  components  of  human 
experience.     Put  in  cold  words,  pale  shades  of  the 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  24I 

process  in  concrete,  this  "is  a  hard  saying."  Yet 
it  embodies  a  group  of  normal  events  in  the  career 
of  every  man  who  has  sojourned  in  the  valley  of 
veritable  moral  or  religious  trial.  "Verily,  verily, 
I  say  unto  thee,  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he 
cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God.  .  .  .  Marvel 
not  that  I  said  unto  thee,  Ye  must  be  born  again. 
The  wind  bloweth  where  it  Hsteth,  and  thou  hearest 
the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  com- 
eth,  and  whither  it  goeth :  so  is  every  one  that  is 
born  of  the  Spirit."  ^  These  verses  record  the 
whole  story  in  familiar  language. 

It  remains  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  such  incidents 
designate  themselves  no  less  distinctly  than  space 
and  time  variables.  They  possess  their  peculiar 
modes  of  existence  and  preservation.  If  the  con- 
tinuous series  be  a  quantitative  sequence,  the 
discontinuous  exhibits  a  self-consistent  unity,  domi- 
nated by  a  forth-reaching  ideal.  And  this  ideal 
announces  the  free  dictation  of  the  end  that  renders 
the  compacted  events  teleological. 

"How  inexhaustibly  the  spirit  grows! 
One  object,  she  seemed  erewhile  born  to  reach 
With  her  whole  energies  and  die  content,  — 
So  like  a  wall  at  the  world's  edge  it  stood, 

*  John  iii.  3,  7,  8. 


242     MODERN   THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

With  nought  beyond  to  live  for,  —  is  that  reached  ?  — 
Already  are  new  undream'd  energies 
Outgrowing  under,  and  extending  farther 
To  a  new  object;  —  there's  another  world!" 

We  are  confronted  here  by  the  concerted  surprises 
of  a  self-developing  system,  never  by  uniformities 
of  external  adjustment,  traceable  to  the  nexus  of 
adjacent  agencies.  That  is,  we  have  a  type  of 
individuality  maintained  throughout  a  qualitative 
series.  Apply  mechanical  judgements,  if  you  like; 
they  disclose  nothing  but  paradox.  You  may  ab- 
stract from  the  qualities,  if  you  so  choose,  —  to 
obtain  'causal'  history,  for  instance.  But  you  must 
bear  in  mind  that  you  have  chosen  to  eliminate,  and 
that  elimination  produces  no  change  in  the  original 
factual  totality.  You  are  not  studying  the  given 
group  in  its  proper  reality;  you  are  dealing  with  it 
for  a  purpose  of  your  own,  foreign  to  the  data; 
you  are  not  essaying  an  explanation  of  the  case 
as  presented.  Accordingly,  we  seem  entitled  to 
conclude  that,  if  we  are  to  penetrate  human  history, 
to  pierce  beyond  its  outer  framework  to  its  actual 
process,  we  must  class  its  phenomena  with  those 
of  ethics  and  religion.  At  best,  'causal'  history, 
the  bootless  search  for  origins  that  disturbs  pious 
souls,  cannot  amount  to  more  than  a  preparation  — 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  243 

a  necessary  one,  surely  —  for  appreciation  of  the 
spiritual  temperament  in  its  concrete  entirety.  For 
the  historical  series,  as  human,  cannot  be  less  dis- 
continuous than  that  of  ethics  or  religion.  To  state 
the  naked  case,  cause  functions  subordinately  in 
history,  for  there  we  must  deal  with  a  succession  of 
events,  so  constituted  empirically,  that  the  modi- 
fications are  historical  only  because  motivated  by 
fresh  outbreaks  of  ideal  activity.  The  occurrences 
that  carry  history  belong  invariably  with  conversion, 
and  not  with  a  lever,  a  spool,  an  arch,  much  less  with 
the  precession  of  the  equinoxes.  If  you  so  desire, 
you  may  think  of  them  as  an  ethical  interplay; 
assuredly  you  can  never  dub  them  a  mechanical 
arrangement,  except  by  deliberate  suppression  of  the 
very  facts  you  have  undertaken  to  grasp.  No  doubt, 
one  may  dismiss  factors  for  a  preliminary  purpose. 
But  persistence  in  this  partiality  reduces  its  spon- 
sor himself  to  the  level  of  a  preliminary  phase.  He 
serves  himself  a  hewer  of  wood  and  drawer  of  water 
for  the  constructive  genius  whose  insight  aspires 
and  joys,  bleeds  and  burns  with  the  palpitating 
past,  regenerated  into  the  present. 

Lastly,  one  other  point  of  agreement  between 
religion  and  morality  may  be  mentioned  in  passing. 
The  practical   reference  predominates   strongly   in 


244    MODERN  THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

both.  They  keep  with  the  daily  round  of  ordinary 
life,  rather  than  with  abstract  theories  about  life  or 
the  physical  universe.     Man  lives  them  out. 

Our  analysis,  then,  reveals  a  substantial  basis  of 
unity  between  morality  and  religion.  This  renders 
the  'superior  person'  attitude  of  religion  the  more 
surprising  —  and  interesting.  So  we  revert  to  our 
former  question,  Has  religion  any  justification?  I 
think  we  cannot  avoid  an  affirmative  answer,  and  for 
a  reason  that  roots  in  profound  truth.  Moral  en- 
deavour ends  ever  with  the  adjournment  of  well- 
being.  Thus,  the  position  where  we  find  ourselves 
now  may  be  described  as  follows.  Competent  and 
successful  within  their  respective  ranges,  quantitative 
science  and  positive  history  furnish  no  guidance  when 
an  account  of  the  universalizing  quality  peculiar 
to  human  nature  stands  in  need.  The  tendencies  of 
contemporary  culture  prove  that,  when  baulked  in 
this  way,  men  turn  to  the  moral  life,  only  to  find, 
on  the  suggestion  of  religion,  that  it,  too,  suffers  limi- 
tation. Perhaps  it  offers  another  example  of  the  pre- 
established  discord,  though  of  a  new  and  disconcert- 
ing kind.  Possibly  Bums,  that  master  among  those 
who  search  the  heart,  was  right  when  he  wrote,  — 

"Misled  by  fancy's  meteor-ray, 
By  passion  driven; 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  245 

But  yet  the  light  that  led  astray 
Was  light  from  heaven." 

Evidently,  we  must  ask,  How  far  is  this  true,  and 
what  message,  if  any,  does  it  bear  about  religion 
itself? 

Although  it  may  be  theorized,  the  moral  life  is 
practical  in  the  first  instance.  It  manifests  itself  in 
overt  action,  the  deeds  of  individuals.  These,  again, 
issue  from  highly  complex  antecedents,  whose  nature 
we  indicate  by  calling  them  '  ethical.'  This,  in  turn, 
carries  a  social  reference.  Nothing  counts  as  ethical 
unless  it  involve  an  ethos  —  the  internal  spirit  gener- 
ated by,  and  peculiar  to,  an  intensive  group.  Sup- 
pose we  take  an  American  citizen,  and  proceed  to 
strip  him  of  his  ethical  possessions.  Deprive  him 
of  all  that  he  absorbed  from  his  immediate  family; 
of  the  influences  that  flowed  in  upon  him  from  the 
environment  of  his  boyhood  and  youth  —  north, 
south,  east,  or  west;  of  all  that  he  derived  from  his 
training  in  the  common  schools,  and  other  educa- 
tional institutions ;  of  the  precepts  imposed  upon  him 
by,  say,  the  protestantism  of  the  sects  that  permeated 
his  neighbourhood ;  of  the  associations  formed  mid- 
most the  political  and  economic  outlook  of  the 
United  States;  of  the  judgements  he  learned  un- 
consciously from  his  daily  reading  in  newspapers  and 


246     MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

popular  magazines;  of  the  perspective  gained  from 
the  social  ideas  shared  by  him  with  his  countrymen; 
of  the  movements  special  to  the  climate  of  opinion 
at  the  dawn  of  the  twentieth  century.  Next,  having 
subtracted  all  these,  ask,  What  is  left?  The  reply 
comes,  swift  and  decisive,  We  not  only  do  not  know, 
but  have  no  means  of  knowing.  Apart  from  these 
reticular,  excessively  subtle,  dispositions,  nothing 
can  be  said  of  the  man,  or  of  any  man.  In  other 
words,  a  mere  naked  individual  never  existed; 
and  the  more  complex  the  civilization  wherein  a 
human  being  has  partaken,  the  more  profound  this 
truth.  The  moral  life  persists  only  as  at  once  the 
expression  and  the  agent  of  transmission  of  such 
psychological  unities.  It  might  be  described  as  a 
process  of  oscillation  between  a  society  and  its 
members.  Moreover,  the  personal  career  displays 
significance,  gains  enlargement,  becomes  valuable 
within  the  group,  just  in  proportion  as  the  uni- 
versal spirit  overflows  it.  A  man  has  morality,  be- 
cause possessed  by  it  in  everything  that  lends  him 
importance.  "Hence,"  as  Hegel  wrote,  "the  wisest 
men  of  old"  — by  whom  he  meant  Plato  and  Aris- 
totle, our  chief  ethical  authorities  still  —  "  have  ad- 
judged that  wisdom  and  virtue  consist  in  living  in 
conformity  with  the  ethos  of  one's  folk."     Culture- 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  247 

history  enforces  this  truth  overwhelmingly.  The 
paragons  clown  the  ages  have  been  precisely  those 
who  lost  themselves  in  their  dominant  social  norms, 
or  who  attempted  to  emphasize  relations  slurred  by 
the  contemporary  spirit.  The  conformists,  acting 
with,  the  reformers,  reacting  upon,  an  organized 
ethical  unity,  together  constitute  the  elect  represent- 
atives of  morality.  Nor  is  the  reason  far  to  seek. 
In  such  circumstances,  external  rule  gives  place  to 
inner  principle.  Thus  inspired,  the  real  types  of  the 
society  illustrate  moral  activity  in  its  most  favourable 
light.  For  judgement  can  reach  sharp  decision  in 
particular  difficulties.  Nay,  the  more  important 
the  choice,  the  less  the  hesitation  to  be  encountered. 
Almost  instantly,  prompted  by  his  cultural  ethos,  the 
*  well-bred '  person  knows  what  to  do.  The  'ought' 
shines  clear,  and  passes  to  'is'  forthwith.  So, 
without  the  genial  support  of  a  diffused  consciousness 
of  kind,  morality  has  usually  withered  or  wavered. 
An  epoch  of  transition  and  an  era  of  simplicity, 
marked  by '  originals,'  seem  equally  unfavourable  to 
ethical  achievement.  In  the  one,  the  social  ideal  is 
at  odds  with  itself;  in  the  other,  individuals,  free 
from  direction,  are  apt  to  lapse  into  curiosities. 
The  unity  loses  its  balance  in  duality,  or  pluralism. 
"Social  life  is  to  personality  what  language  is  to 


248    MODERN   THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

thought."  When  it  is  said  that  a  nation  is  merely 
an  aggregate  of  individuals,  "the  fallacy  lies  in  the 
implication  that  the  individuals  could  be  what  they 
are,  could  have  their  moral  and  spiritual  qualities 
independently  of  their  existence  as  a  nation."  ^ 

Now,  the  inference,  consequent  upon  these  evident 
facts,  offers  a  very  relevant  reason  for  the  distaste 
of  religion  to  the  adoption  of  'works'  as  an  ultimate 
test  of  worth.  Let  us  put  it  in  this  way.  Granted 
that  the  ethical  problem  can  find  solution  only  in 
practice,  and  granted  that  a  social  ethos  gives  the 
environment  necessary  to  this  practice,  what  follows  ? 

First,  something  favourable  to  the  ethical  claim. 
The  antithesis  between  egoistic  ideal  and  altruistic 
realization  tends  to  abate  its  acuteness  —  achieve- 
ment treads  the  heels  of  aspiration  most  closely  — 
in  the  recompenses  obtained  from  voluntary  unity 
with  the  great  aims  of  one's  racial  or  national  spirit. 
When  the  Roman  stiffened  his  backbone  and  said, 
"Civis  Romanus  sum,"  he  was  the  embodiment  of 
what,  in  all  fairness,  we  may  call  moral  attainment. 
So  is  your  modern  American  or  Enghshman  or 
German,  —  he  who  feels  he  must  be  reckoned  with 
on  account  of  his  people,  and  realizes  his  own 
responsibility   in   measure.     When   personal   desire 

'  Prolegomena  to  Ethics,  T.  H.  Green,  p.  193;   ist  ed. 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  249 

finds  itself  completed  in  the  best  that  bore  it,  then, 
and  then  alone,  possibly,  something  in  the  nature 
of  a  moral  heaven  has  been  reached.  For  the 
solitary  soul  stands  transfigured,  and,  having  united 
vi^ith  the  many  at  the  benign  moment,  serves  itself 
'great'  ethically.  In  their  songs,  when  breath 
comes  short,  and  tears  start,  men  apostrophize  no 
physical  land,  but  a  spiritual  state.  "My  Country, 
'tis  of  Thee,"  "Die  Wacht  am  Rhein,"  and  the  rest, 
reek  with  pride,  but  not  pride  that  goes  before  a  fall ; 
far  rather,  the  pride  that  ensues  upon  real  elevation. 
Detach  the  good  from  materialized  associations, 
and  you  may  say  fervently,  "Ubi  bene,  ibi  patria." 
Here,  if  anywhere,  "eternity  is  in  love  with  the  pro- 
ductions of  time."  Here,  if  anywhere,  the  incal- 
culable power,  and  the  bewitching  graciousness  of 
the  ethical  appeal  abash  us  into  silence  of  consent 
by  their  glorious  success.  Here,  if  anywhere,  we 
must  find  justification  for  the  recurrent  choice  of 
goodness  as  the  ultimate  measure  of  a  man.  Glanc- 
ing back  at  her  work,  morality  might  adopt,  and 
flaunt,  the  Christian  motto,  "Die  to  five."  For  the 
genuine  uplift  of  a  folk  has  never  been  sought 
vainly  in  the  ensamples  of  its  own  soul  set  before  it  by 
its  sainted  representatives.  The  revelation  of  the 
animating  principle  of  a  communal  ideal,  its  concrete 


250    MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

embodiment  in  a  devoted,  but  sane,  character,  were, 
surely,  something  whereon  anyone  could  dare  take 
his  stand  "at  that  great  day,"  expectant  of  the  good 
servant's  reward.  Self  has  forgotten  self  and, 
through  this  very  loss,  has  grown  into  the  image  of 
a  near  infinity. 

"The  grosser  parts  fly  off  and  leave  the  whole, 
As  the  dust  leaves  the  disembodied  soul ! " 

Accordingly,  we  think  of  our '  heroes '  and  '  represent- 
ative men,'  — 

"The  dead,  but  sceptred  sovereigns,  who  still  rule 
Our  spirits  from  their  urns," 

as  if  they  belonged  to  a  region  where  Time,  with  her 
waters  of  Lethe,  exerts  no  spell.  Thus,  the  claim 
of  the  moral  consciousness  to  erect  a  court  of  final 
judgement  has  always  received  popular  suffrage, 
offered  frequently  a  convenient,  and  even  salutary, 
recourse.  But,  notwithstanding  its  splendid  title  to 
human  allegiance,  and  the  stimulating  intensity  of 
its  attractions,  the  preestablished  discord  haunts  it. 
Put  it  to  the  question,  and  you  will  discover  that  its 
last  word  cannot  but  be  the  adjournment  of  well- 
being.  Of  a  truth,  it  transports  one  to  "  an  exceed- 
ing high  mountain,"  but  only  to  point  the  higher, 
inaccessible,  peak  in  the  blue  beyond. 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  25 1 

For,  second,  its  most  adequate  solutions,  even  at 
their  radiant  best,  must  keep  the  level  of  stages  in 
the  course  of  culture.  While  no  prayer  may  be 
uplifted  with  more  assurance,  while  none  may  be 
more  thoroughly  worth  benison,  than  "the  work  of 
our  hands,  establish  Thou  it,"  still  the  truth  remains 
that  the  work  is  a  work,  and  the  establishment  pos- 
sible only  under  certain  limited  conditions.  "They 
shall  perish,  but  thou  shalt  endure;  yea,  all  of  them 
shall  wax  old  like  a  garment ;  as  a  vesture  thou  shalt 
change  them,  and  they  shall  be  changed."  ^  So 
religion  maintains.  And  why  ?  Look  at  our  Ameri- 
can civilization,  for  example.  To  the  ethos  of  Greece 
we  owe  the  humane  element  —  overlaid  sadly  — 
in  our  free  spirit ;  to  the  ethos  of  Palestine,  trans- 
mitted through  Reformation  Germany  and  Puritan 
England,  our  religious  quality ;  to  the  ethos  of  Rome, 
reborn  in  the  genius  of  Britain,  our  common  law; 
and  other  factors  to  I  know  not  what  forces  of  insti- 
tutionalism,  consecrated  in  alien  climes,  and  older 
epochs.  Nevertheless,  we  contemn  Greek  and  Latin 
for  'dead'  languages,  and  grin  over  our  'progress' 
when  we  banish  them  from  our  schools ;  we  exclude 
the  Bible,  and  prink  ourselves  in  '  unsectarianism ' ; 
we  shiver  at  the  very  name  of  Roman  imperialism, 

*  Psalms  cii.  26. 


252    MODERN  THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

especially  if  we  are  of  those  whom  the  breezes  of  the 
North  Atlantic  chill ;  we  flout  the  'effete'  civilization 
of  England,  particularly  as  incarnate  in  its  governing 
class  wherein,  most  characteristically  for  the  modern 
world,  the  perfection  of  balance  between  individual 
aspiration  and  social  achievement  —  the  completest 
solution  of  the  unlaid  ethical  problem  —  is  to  be  seen. 
And  for  what  reason,  please  you?  Is  it  the  most 
grotesque  of  provincial  follies,  or  an  unamiable  foible 
of  sheer  ignorance?  Not  at  all.  The  answer  is, 
Because  we  cannot  help  ourselves  —  the  morality 
of  no  one  of  these  stages  satisfies  us}  The  root  of 
our  superciliousness  strikes  deep  in  our  own  hearts. 
From  the  height  of  our  civilization  —  which  is  a 
height  only  as  it  is  ours  —  we  look  down  with  pity 
upon  all  these,  just  as  they  severally  scorned  'bar- 
barian,' 'heathen,'  or  'outsider'  in  their  flowering 
time.  "Thou  art  weighed  in  the  balances,  and  art 
found  wanting."  This  writing  on  the  wall  demands 
no  astrologer,  Chaldaean,  or  soothsayer  "to  make 
known  the  interpretation  thereof,"  much  less  "the 
excellent  wisdom"  of  a  Daniel  come  to  judgement. 
The  conclusion  runs  plain.  Universalize  any  solu- 
tion morality  can  offer,  and  it  becomes  false  forthwith, 
self-contradictory,  or  even  a  cumberer  of  the  ground. 

'  Cf.  Joshua  xxiii.  4-13. 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  253 

"The  spacious  days  of  great  Elizabeth"  could  not 
have  been  spacious  had  they  stood  quod  semper,  quod 
ubique,  et  quod  ah  omnibus.  The  moral  life  may 
indeed  win  to  a  goal  once  in  a  day.  No  matter. 
For,  by  its  inmost  constitution,  it  effects  so  much  in 
that  day,  and  in  that  day  alone.  The  very  perfec- 
tion of  the  unity  between  ideal  and  aspiration  serves 
but  to  originate  a  fresh  opposition  between  the  part 
that  is  and  the  all  that  ought  to  be.  The  English 
gentleman  —  Lord  Cromer  will  pardon  my  imperti- 
nence in  citing  his  representative  record  of  tenacious 
rectitude  —  may  very  well  be  one  of  the  finest  ex- 
amples of  ethical  completion  the  world  has  known. 
Yet,  callow  though  it  may  seem,  we  mock  him,  be- 
cause his  'ought'  either  fails  utterly  to  appeal  to  us, 
or  even  assumes  the  ugly  shape  of  an  'ought  not.' 
In  brief,  the  ethical  consciousness  must  circle  ah 
urbe  in  urbem;  it  can  never  speak  ad  orhem. 

"Framed  for  the  service  of  a  free-bom  will," 

the  highest  manifestation  of  moral  well-being,  and 
well-doing,  no  sooner  walks  the  earth  than  adjourn- 
ment is  taken,  to  tear  it  to  pieces  in  committee,  as  it 
were.  It  wsiS  framed.  Ethical  realization  wrought, 
as  it  must  be,  under  stringent  conditions,  reveals  itself 
as  a  kind  of  magnificent  failure,  when  conditions 


254    MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

alter  never  so  little.  Nay,  the  more  its  magnificence 
is  lauded,  the  more  its  failure  tends  to  incense  those 
whom  the  magic  circle  excludes.  Confined  to  a 
place  or  people,  exuberant  in  a  circumscribed  period, 
the  moth  and  rust  of  this  world  break  through,  and 
lo,  it  has  gone  to  destruction. 

Here,  then,  we  light  upon  the  reason  why  religion 
has  often  cast  suspicion  upon  'works.'  One  good 
custom  can  corrupt  the  world,  because  morality  is 
predestined  to  end  in  a  series  of  compromises.  Has 
the  'immoral'  man  been  detected  invariably  in  sot 
or  sensualist,  and  in  none  other?  By  no  means. 
As  often  he  has  horrified  the  "great  and  good  ones 
of  the  earth"  in  the  guise  of  a  graceless  iconoclast — 
pounding  at  the  foundations  of  their  consecrated 
usages.  What  else  was  Jesus  himself  ?  Was  he  not 
"  possessed  of  a  devil "  ?    To 

"Hold  infinity  in  the  palm  of  your  hand, 
And  eternity  in  an  hour," 

is  not  given  to  morality,  because  — 

"Pity  would  be  no  more 
If  we  did  not  make  somebody  poor, 
And  Mercy  no  more  could  be 
If  all  were  as  happy  as  we. 

"  And  mutual  fear  brings  Peace, 
Till  the  selfish  loves  increase; 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  255 

Then  Cruelty  knits  a  snare, 
And  spreads  his  bait  with  care. 

"  He  sits  down  with  holy  fears, 
And  waters  the  ground  with  tears; 
Then  Humility  takes  its  root 
Underneath  his  foot. 

"  Soon  spreads  the  dismal  shade 
Of  Mystery  over  his  head, 
And  the  caterpillar  and  fly 
Feed  on  the  Mystery. 

"  And  it  bears  the  fruit  of  Deceit, 
Ruddy  and  sweet  to  eat, 
And  the  raven  his  nest  has  made 
In  its  thickest  shade. 

"  The  gods  of  the  earth  and  sea 
Sought  through  nature  to  find  this  tree, 
But  their  search  was  all  in  vain: 
There  grows  one  in  the  human  Brain." 

This  is  "the  human  abstract,"  as  a  profound  genius 
in  mysticism  saw  so  clearly.  The  'ought  to  be,' 
the  completer  it  'is,'  earns  the  frown  of  the  'ought 
not ' ;  and  so  man  passes  from  likeness  to  likeness  of 
the  good,  particularizing  from  age  to  age,  but  uni- 
versalizing never.  Well-being  truly  arrives,  but  only 
on  agreement  that  it  adjourn,  the  sooner  the  better,  — 
to  give  place  to  well-being  !  Small  wonder  that  many 
seers  and  poets,  astray  in  the  ethical  maze,  should 


256     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

have  likened  human  existence  to  a  pragmatic  cycle, 
arising,  spreading,  embracing,  vanishing,  merely  to 
return  and  repeat  itself  in  the  same  empty  cere- 
monies, world  without  end. 

Time  forbids  me  to  dwell  in  detail  upon  the  con- 
tradictions and  compromises  easily  discoverable  by 
any  thoughtful  person  in  the  current  standards  of 
his  own  ethical  environment.  Suffice  it  to  say  that, 
thrust  back  where  deepest  satisfaction  might  be 
anticipated,  mankind  appeals  to  religion.  The 
adjournment  of  well-being  forces  this  alternative. 
We  yearn  for  assurance,  and  are  bidden  —  to  keep 
up  the  struggle.  Therefore  we  seek  another  coun- 
try, which  is  an  heavenly,  in  the  hope  that  the  peace 
that  passeth  understanding  may  dispel  uncertainty. 
Great  as  is  the  fallacy  that  seeks  universal  explana- 
tions from  positive  science  and  'exact'  history,  the 
attempt  to  extract  comfort  from  'ethical  culture,' 
or  to  escape  religion  by  recourse  to  institutionalism, 
may  be  falser  still.  Science  and  history  we  know, 
but  this  assumes  the  dangerous  guise  of  an  enemy 
within  the  gates.  So,  in  conclusion,  we  approach 
common  representations  of  the  religious  conscious- 
ness, to  see  whether  we  shall  fare  any  better  at  their 
hands. 

Taken  on  its  practical  side,  especially,  the  moral 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  257 

life  appears  as  a  restless  and,  sometimes,  confused 
state  of  effort.  It  demands  a  curious  union  of  per- 
severance and  concession.  Even  when  it  reaches 
comparative  stability,  in  a  distinctive  culture,  dis- 
quiet dances  close  attendance.  In  all  likelihood,  we 
must  agree  to  accept  these  limitations  as  inevitable; 
circumstances  compel  us ;  otherwise,  morality  would 
not  exist.  For,  in  practice,  men  are  finite  beings, 
subjects  of  a  spatial  and  temporal  order.  They 
exhibit  morality,  because  they  cannot  escape  the  fet- 
ters of  their  mortal  lot.  Yet,  on  the  contrary,  they 
could  scarce  maintain  an  endless  struggle,  sure  of  its 
futility,  last  and.  first.  Despite  appearances,  they 
affirm,  by  their  very  alacrity,  that  their  persistence 
through  the  strife  witnesses  to  copartnership  in  a 
mission  destined  to  final  success. 

"Grow  old  along  with  me! 
The  best  is  yet  to  be.  .  .  . 

"  Rejoice  we  are  allied 
To  That  which  doth  provide 
And  not  partake,  effect  and  not  receive! 
A  spark  disturbs  our  clod; 
Nearer  we  hold  of  God 
Who  gives,  than  of  His  tribes  that  take,  I  must  believe." 

The  nature  of  the  system  —  '  spiritual '  plus  '  mate- 
rial '  —  wherein   man  subserves  his  function  as  an 


258    MODERN  THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

ethical  being,  thus  comes  in  question.  Practical 
though  morality  be,  it  is  also  systematic,  and  there- 
fore presupposes  constitutive  principles.  It  pro- 
ceeds on  a  basis  little  distinguishable  from  faith. 
The  relevant  motive-force,  so  to  speak,  involves 
decided  convictions.  As  science  postulates,  without 
proof,  that  this  frame  of  things  is  rational,  and 
rational  in  such  a  way  that  the  human  intellect  can 
grasp  and  use  it,  so  morality,  nothing  loth,  lays  down 
initial  propositions  peculiar  to  its  'universe.'  Stated 
briefly,  even  baldly,  they  are  as  follows :  There  would 
be  no  moral  life  unless  man  felt  that,  in  sum,  charac- 
ter attains  enhanced  power  and  fuller  expression  in 
ethical  activity;  and  that,  more  rather  than  less, 
the  consequences  of  endeavour  represent  victories 
whose  benefits  cannot  be  lost.  Now  this  intimates 
that  the  practical  career  issues  from  an  ideal  insight. 
A  new  light  suffuses  the  harsh  disappointments  of 
common  day.  We  discover  a  time-process,  fore- 
doomed to  failure  in  every  particular  case.  Yet  we 
must  face  the  correlative  fact  that  this  process  justifies 
itself,  and  anticipates  its  own  completion,  by  reference 
to  a  perfection  seen  with  the  eye  of  faith  only ;  even 
foolish  mortals  avoid  a  course  where  certain  dis- 
aster is  demonstrable  beforehand.  Were  this  ideal 
world  to  become  real,  however,  morality  would  be 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  259 

abolished  as  ipso  facto  inconceivable  or  superfluous. 
Nevertheless,  the  existence  of  ethics  betokens  the 
conviction  that  this  ideal  possesses  ultimate  meaning. 
Hereupon  morality  has  abdicated  in  favour  of  reli- 
gion. For  religion  pivots  on  the  belief,  not  that  these 
insights  merely  hint  some  vague  eventuality,  but  that 
their  object  is  the  sole  actual  existence.  The  very 
imperfection  of  the  moral  life  involves  appeal  to  that 
supra-ethical  reality  which  religion  terms  God.  In 
short,  another  view  of  the  entire  system  of  experience 
looms  in  sight.  The  immemorial  minor  contradic- 
tions of  diurnal  affairs  reveal  a  major  contradiction 
between  possibilities,  known  to  be  of  one  kind,  and 
a  present  reality,  conceived  to  be  of  totally  different 
kind.  For  morality  is  a  realization  of  human 
nature,  just  like  any  other  —  digestion,  say.  It 
offers  a  partial  disclosure  of  a  broken  unity.  Reli- 
gion, on  the  contrary,  seeks  unequivocal  realization 
of  the  unity  as  a  whole.  But  this  seems  entirely 
impracticable,  because  complete  realization  must 
include  the  ideal  insights  which,  in  turn,  cannot 
find  room  within  the  realm  of  finite  being,  cribbed, 
cabined,  and  confined  in  a  temporal  series. 

This  inexplicable  disharmony  shows  us  why 
even  so  great  a  religious  genius  as  Augustine  felt 
constrained  to  speak  of  life  as  "a  monstrous  para- 


26o    MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

dox."  Take  him  from  any  side  you  please,  man  is 
himself  a  huge  contradiction.  "What  a  piece  of 
work  is  a  man  !  How  noble  in  reason  !  how  infinite 
in  faculty !  in  form  and  moving  how  express  and 
admirable !  in  action  how  like  an  angel !  in  appre- 
hension how  like  a  god  !  the  beauty  of  the  world ! 
the  paragon  of  animals !  And  yet,  to  me,  what  is 
this  quintessence  of  dust?  man  delights  not  me, 
no,  nor  woman  neither."  No  profo under  difficulty 
assails  reason,  faith,  and  hope.  Art  represents 
Jesus  with  a  crown  of  thorns,  Nero  with  a  chaplet 
of  roses;  she  omits  to  add  that  the  thorns  blossom 
into  roses,  that  the  roses  fade  into  thorns.  Which 
picture  holds  truth?  Or,  are  both  true?  Or,  is 
there  no  truth,  after  all?  We  must  not  anticipate 
that  an  otiose,  heritable  conception  of  religion  will 
avail  much  against  problems  like  these.  Nay,  if 
we  muster  courage  to  play  the  game  squarely,  we 
must  rather  expect  to  discover  that,  sometimes, 
religion  itself  falls  within  the  grasp  of  the  wholesale 
contradiction.  For,  were  it  merely  a  transient  from 
a  distant  clime,  it  would  lack  the  touch  of  nature 
that  makes  the  whole  world  kin.  So,  on  any  count, 
if  it  can  effect  aught  to  deliver,  we  are  bound  to  view 
it  as  incidental  to  man's  universe,  and  therefore  as 
a  subject  of  the  preestablished  discord.     We  dare 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  26 1 

not  go  forward  in  blindness  to  even  the  strangest 
turn  of  the  wheel.  If  Hf  e  be  a  paradox,  and  if  religion 
be  its  inseparable  accident,  our  holiest  Edens  cannot 
escape  the  trail  of  the  serpent.  In  some  aspects  of 
it,  religion,  which  "builds  a  heaven  in  hell's  despair," 
also  "builds  a  hell  in  heaven's  despite  "  ! 

The  controversies  that  still  surround  the  word 
afford  abundant  proof,  not  necessarily  that  its  mean- 
ing is  doubtful,  but  that  it  may  be  interpreted  in  va- 
rious, perhaps  mutually  exclusive,  senses.  Speaking 
generally,  we  know  Religion  as  religions.  While, 
condescending  upon  further  detail,  several  conven- 
tions affect  our  apprehension  of  any  one  religion. 
The  prism  of  experience  splits  the  pure  white  light 
into  many  coloured  rays.  This  weird  contingency 
will  claim  our  notice  in  what  remains  to-night. 

Customary  associations  control  our  uncritical 
acceptation  of  many  abstract  words.  Linguistic 
denominations,  like  thousand-dollar  bills,  pass 
current  at  their  face  value  —  we  do  not  think  of  the 
cents,  much  less  of  the  reasons  for  the  numerous, 
and  shifting,  exchange-worths  represented.  In 
short,  the  sign  is  presented  or  taken  with  an  indis- 
tinct consciousness  of  its  meaning,  or  without  reflex- 
ion, or  with  positive  error.  Further,  as  civilization 
grows  more  complex,  and  portions  of  life  gain  rela- 


262     MODERN  THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

tive  independence,  this  tendency  to  symbolize  waxes 
mightily.  If  one  were  to  pull  a  friend  up  short, 
with  a  request  to  define  'Government,'  'State,'  '  Con- 
stitution,' 'Commerce,'  'Jurisdiction,'  and  so  on, 
the  exact  constituents  would  not  be  forthcoming  in 
every  case.  As  for  these,  so  for  'Religion,'  it  is 
easier  to  rest  in  a  customary  import,  fixed  by  usage 
in  a  given  society.  Regarded  thus,  religion  tends 
to  symbolize  one  of  several  things  as  a  rule.  And, 
when  you  have  heard  the  list,  pray  ask  yourselves 
this  question  seriously :  When  these  accompaniments 
have  been  stated,  how  many  of  your  acquaintances 
and  neighbours  could  you  name  who  do  not  conceive 
religion  to  consist  in  one,  or  in  a  combination,  of  the 
views  mentioned;  and,  if  they  be  inadequate,  what 
then? 

(i)  Religion  may  be  identified  with  the  govern- 
ment, order,  and  practices  of  an  institution  —  an 
ecclesiastical  organization,  say.  All  these,  once 
more,  vary  from  time  to  time,  from  place  to  place. 
Racial  and  cultural  tendencies  mould,  if  they  do  not 
control,  specific  manifestations  of  the  kind.  (2)  It 
may  be  identified  with  a  system  of  doctrine.  Here, 
again,  racial  and  social  tendencies  intervene.  One 
people  may  be  so  constituted  psychologically,  or  its 
stock  of  knowledge  may  be  so  crude,  that  its  creed 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  263 

counts  no  more  than  superstition  with  a  folk  in  a 
different  stage  of  development.  Nay,  within  the 
same  nation,  the  belief  of  one  group  may  seem  folly 
to  another.  (3)  It  may  be  identiiied  with  peculiar 
events  alleged  to  have  broken  the  normal  current 
of  history.  Here,  yet  again,  racial  and  social  pre- 
dilections play  an  immense  part.  Jesus,  a  child  of 
the  Orient,  was  destined  to  conquer  the  West,  but, 
equally,  to  miss  formative  influence  in  the  East. 
Recall,  too,  that  the  religions  which  rule  humanity 
to-day  were  all  of  Oriental  origin.  The  Occident 
has  evolved  science,  invented  machinery,  built  battle- 
ships —  and  christened  them  in  the  name  of  the  God 
of  love  by  His  consecrated  ministers ;  she  has  never 
created  a  great  religion,  unless,  indeed,  Christianity 
be  credited  to  her.  Accordingly,  it  requires  little 
perspicacity  to  observe  that,  in  all  three  cases 
equally,  the  compromises,  even  contradictions, 
characteristic  of  the  moral  consciousness,  appear 
on  the  scene,  with  the  usual  consequences.  The 
adjournment  of  well-being  presents  itself  in  new 
phases  of  its  protean  shapes. 

(i)  It  would  be  fantastic  to  assert  that  an  insti- 
tution, developed  in  the  course  of  history,  could  be 
universalized  so  as  to  provide  a  fundamental  ex- 
planation  of   experience.     All   institutions   exist   to 


264    MODERN  THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

subserve  practical  ends  and,  on  this  account,  they 
fail  us  when  we  seek  consistent  theory.  To  use 
the  language  of  religion,  no  one  would  allege  that 
the  visible  church  and  the  kingdom  of  heaven  are 
identical.  The  church  appeared,  and  still  con- 
tinues, as  a  means  under  the  form  of  time;  we  are 
bound  to  conceive  the  kingdom  of  heaven  as  a  per- 
fect community  under  the  form  of  eternity.  Thus 
the  question  arises.  Can  any  religious  organization 
escape  the  limitations  that  cling  to  all  incidents  in 
a  temporal  series?  The  attitude  of  anti-religious 
rationalists,  and  their  reasons  for  it,  prove  the 
negative.  Critics  of  the  church  fail  to  perceive  that 
the  dross  of  time  and  space  defies  the  refiner's  art ; 
or  they  blink  the  situation  wilfully.  They  return 
again  and  again  with  disagreeable  charges.  They 
draw  lurid  pictures  of  the  apposition  between  pro- 
fession and  practice;  they  wax  mordant  over  the 
shallow  compromises  forced  upon  the  church  by 
the  flesh  and  the  world  —  by  moral  conventions,  by 
the  economic  order.  Doubtless,  lively  prejudice 
jaundices  their  vision  frequently.  Nevertheless, 
one  may  as  well  admit  that  they  appeal  to  notorious 
facts.  Still,  their  abuse  derives  its  sting  from  the 
assumption  that  the  church  represents  heaven  upon 
earth,  that  it  furnishes  a  complete  epitome  of  the 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  265 

religious  consciousness.  If  ihcy  were  careful  to 
recall  that  it  is  no  more  than  instrumental  to  the 
major  ends  of  man's  being,  their  capital  would  be 
gone.  As  one  type  of  human  organization,  it  must 
submit  to  influences  which  no  leap  of  imagination 
can  transfer  to  an  ideal  community.  Whatever 
man  may  become  sub  specie  cEternitatis,  we  have 
every  reason  to  believe  that  he  will  not  remain  what 
he  is  now  sub  specie  ecclesicc.  In  worship,  for 
instance,  we  make  common  cause  with  some  whose 
characters  we  despise ;  and  the  same  holds  of  other 
churchly  activities  —  we  may  have  to  serve  with 
them  on  a  vestry.  So  far  as  our  present  partial  in- 
sight reveals,  we  are  perfectly  certain  that  these 
relations  would  render  heaven  a  mockery.  Yet  they 
bother  us  on  every  hand  in  our  temporal  expedients. 
We  compromise  with  them,  and  contradict  our  high- 
est aspirations,  because  we  are  unable  to  help  our- 
selves. Nor  does  the  paradox  finish  here.  The 
compromises  and  contradictions  are  tolerated  for 
the  sake  of  these  very  aspirations.  They  are  tools, 
placed  in  our  hands,  willy-nilly,  here  and  now. 

"Can  wisdom  be  put  in  a  silver  rod, 
Or  love  in  a  golden  bowl?" 

Assuredly  not.  Yet,  straightway,  we  proceed  to 
cramp  them  thus.     In  short,  the  visible  church,  as 


266    MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

an  apparition  in  time,  bows  its  head  in  consent  to  the 
adjournment  of  well-being.  No  doubt,  in  separation 
from  such  societies,  we  may  fall  upon  greater  defect 
than  when  joined  with  them.  But  this  lends  no 
colour  to  the  naive  idea  that  the  bare  fact  of  asso- 
ciation embodies  an  adequate  ideal.  Briefly,  the 
church,  because  ordered  thus  and  so  in  the  past 
and  present,  necessarily  lags  behind  the  very  spiritual 
fulness  that  it  exists  to  proclaim.  To  quote  a  com- 
monplace of  sarcasm,  we  ought  to  remind  ourselves 
constantly  that,  under  temporal  limits,  the  thirteenth 
vote  represents  the  Holy  Spirit  only  too  often.  Here 
Fate  touches  our  workaday  world  with  the  grim 
humour  of  truth ;  and,  within  her  ovm  borders,  we 
must  abide  her  awful  irony.  A  temporal  organiza- 
tion sways  from  side  to  side;  otherwise  it  would 
die,  for  the  tortuous  movement  attests  its  vital 
quality.  This  same  record  of  contradiction  forms 
an  indispensable  stage  in  our  'progress'  to  anything 
ideal.  No  matter  with  what  fine  qualities  we  credit 
our  instrument,  especially  when  first  made,  sooner 
or  later  the  inherent  deceptions  will  come  to  light. 
This  is  the  law  of  sin  in  our  members.  Indeed,  one 
need  not  go  further  than  the  apostolic  writings  for 
lambent  illustrations  of  the  hapless  truth.  Vacu- 
ous fatuity  and  smug  self-assurance  beset  religious 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  267 

institutionalism.  They  tell  the  price  payable  for 
ideal  symbolization  in  objects  that  sink  easily  to  the 
unideal.  The  poor  are  always  with  us ;  but,  worse 
luck,  so  is  Seth  Pecksniff.  '"There  is  no  deception, 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  all  is  peace,  a  holy  calm 
pervades  me.'  .  .  .  His  genius  lay  in  ensnaring 
parents  and  guardians,  and  pocketing  premiums. 
.  .  .  'We  are  all  hypocrites.  .  .  .  The  only  dif- 
ference between  you  and  the  rest  .  .  .  is  .  .  .  that 
you  never  have  a  confederate  or  partner  in  your 
juggling;  you  would  deceive  everybody,  even  those 
who  practise  the  same  art ;  and  have  a  way  with 
you,  as  if  you  —  he,  he,  he  !  —  as  if  you  really  be- 
lieved yourself.  I'd  lay  a  handsome  wager  now, 
if  I  laid  wagers,  which  I  don't  and  never  did,  that 
you  keep  up  appearances  by  a  tacit  understanding, 
even  before  your  own  daughters  here.'"  Thus  it 
must  ever  be  with  a  temporal  construction.  Con- 
victed of  shortcoming,  it  abases  itself  before  the 
ideal,  and,  at  the  same  moment,  puffs  itself  up  with 
false  pride,  flaunting  the  presumption  that  the  ideal 
can  find  habitation  nowhere  else.  Evidently,  then, 
we  must  not  seek  for  complete  satisfaction  of  the 
religious  consciousness  in  the  visible  church.  A 
round  of  pietistic  ceremonies,  so  called,  is  no  more 
religious  than  a  round  of  devotions  to  duty  —  the 


268     MODERN  THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

r 
mother's,  physician's,  patriot's,  scholar's.  Only 
when  mediated  by  that  tension  of  the  whole  man 
which  we  term  religion  do  these  practices  and  self- 
sacrifices  acquire  religious  import.  Therefore,  to 
mistake  the  church  and  things  ecclesiastical  for 
religion  is  no  more  than  a  concession  to  the  world, 
likely  to  be  fraught  with  disappointment,  pain,  or, 
perhaps,  disaster,  when  real  stress  arrives.  For  the 
religious  consciousness  looks  to  the  invisible  things 
of  a  timeless  perfection.  Nay,  would  not  the  church 
become  actively  irreligious  —  has  it  not  actually 
been  so  in  times  past  —  if  it  did  not  demand  some- 
thing higher  than  itself?  If  we  remember  this,  I 
think  we  shall  escape  unscathed  from  many  diffi- 
culties that  worry  good  souls  to-day. 

(2)  Similarly,  even  granted  that  religion  requires 
an  irreducible  minimum  of  doctrine,  it  is  plain  that 
the  system  proceeds  from  the  human  mind.  Con- 
sequently, doctrine  occupies  precisely  the  same 
position  as  any  other  pronouncement  of  reason.  It 
is  at  bottom  a  series  of  hypotheses,  evolved  to  ac- 
count for  certain  ebullitions  of  inner  experience;  it 
cannot  pretend  to  complete  truth.  While  it  may 
be  matter  of  immense  practical  importance  that 
groups  of  men  possess  the  conviction  that  some  spir- 
itual asseverations  are  true,  this  means  only  that 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  269 

they  find  them  helpful.  In  other  words,  the  rela- 
tive character  of  knowledge  always  infects  single 
propositions,  and  never  so  emphatically  as  when  an 
attempt  is  made  to  render  them  the  sole  vehicles  of 
truth.  When  a  Christian  cannot  explain  to  you 
why  doctrine  presents  God  as  triime,  and  flies  to 
'mystery'  for  refuge,  what  can  you  expect  as  to 
truth?  When  a  pious  soul  is  unable  even  to  com- 
prehend why  there  cannot  be  any  '  relation '  between 
an  absolute  God  and  a  separate  individual  like 
himself,  how  can  we  anticipate  that  he  knows  the 
truth  about  an  'atonement'?  In  short,  dogma  is 
either  too  simple  or  too  sophisticated  to  be  capable 
of  universal  application.  Too  simple,  because  it 
neglects  to  fathom  the  presuppositions  of  the  com- 
plexities it  undertakes  to  define;  too  sophisticated, 
because  it  winks  the  eye  at  man's  undoubted  power 
to  destroy  or  alter  his  owti  conclusions  at  any  mo- 
ment. It  is  a  mere  piece  of  self-deception  to  sup- 
pose, for  example,  that  we  could  not  compose  a  more 
adequate  creed  to-day  than  in  the  fourth  century. 
Yet  we  let  the  old  statements  stand,  because,  as  I 
heard  an  ecclesiastic  say  once,  "you  can  drive  a 
coach  and  four  through  them."  The  point  to  be 
remembered  is  that  you  can  perform  this  interesting 
feat  upon  any  creed  possible  within  the  logical  pro- 


270    MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

cesses  of  reason.  The  secret  ways  of  the  religious 
consciousness  defy  all  doctrinal  anatomy.  More- 
over, doctrinal  conclusions,  when  they  suffice  mo- 
mentarily, are  no  more  than  reasons  post  factum. 
In  a  sense,  every  creed  must  be  a  forlorn  hope.  It 
rationalizes  a  condition  which,  in  its  very  essence, 
eludes  abstract  reason.  As  a  reflective,  and  second- 
ary arrangement,  it  betrays  all  the  usual  defects  of 
the  hypothesis-tribe.  And  the  curious  error,  that  a 
series  of  set  propositions,  relative  to  their  day  and 
generation,  must  contain  the  wliole  truth  of  religion, 
amounts  simply  to  additional  evidence  of  man's 
reluctance  to  face  thoroughgoing  thought  about 
spiritual  things.  This  blunder,  be  it  said  in  pass- 
ing, has  always  been  a  characteristic  of  English- 
speaking  protestantism.  Our  racial  tendency  to 
evade,  or  falsify,  spiritual  issues,  is  well  understood 
by  the  continental  peoples.^ 

*  The  following  is  typical  of  the  view  held  by  the  Latin  peoples: 
"This  race,  bodily  energetic  and  resolute  like  no  other,  is  morally 
childish.  Wonder  and  awe  before  questions  unfathomable  to  the 
Englishman  make  him  subservient,  and  establish  the  base  of  his 
mental  discipline.  In  other  races  there  is  not  to  be  found  such 
respect  for  tradition,  or  worship  of  established  forms,  or  admira- 
tion for  great  men,  all  the  social  traces  that  lessen  the  individual 
carat  of  genius,  and  so  cement  with  solidity  the  whole  mass  of 
the  greatness  of  the  people.  The  English,  who  are  penetrated 
by  the  Rationalistic  civilization  of  the  Continent,  principally  of 
German  origin,   confess  that   intellectual   cowardice   is  the  only 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  27 1 

A  creed,  then,  is  not  religion.  It  is  obviously  a 
form  of  words,  valid  for  those  who  fathered  it,  and 
intended  by  them  to  define  some  experiences  be- 
lieved to  be  incidental  to  religion.  It  is  doomed  to 
pass  or  change,  just  like  any  other  theory,  —  in 
science,  for  instance,  —  and  this  because  its  content 
partakes  in  the  relativity  of  its  age.  So,  once  more, 
if  we  would  bear  these  things  in  mind,  many  diffi- 
culties that  distress  devout  souls  to-day  would  van- 
ish into  thin  air.  For  a  creed,  like  an  ecclesiastical 
organization,  is  an  instrument,  and  a  most  tempo- 
rary one  at  that.  To  put  it  in  place  of  its  creator, 
the  religious  consciousness,  is  to  invite  needless 
misunderstanding,  perhaps  eventual  apostacy.  For, 
in  the  nature  of  the  case,  dogmas  constantly  become 
irreconcilable  with  known  facts.  And  to  insist  that 
the  religious  consciousness  accept  falsehood  for  its 
portion  appears,  to  some  at  least,  suspiciously  akin 
to  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Spirit. 

kind  of  cowardice  possible  for  Englishmen,  but  that  lays  hold  of 
them  to  an  excessive  degree.  ...  It  is  even  yet  difficult  for  an 
unbeliever  to  pass  as  a  gentleman,  a  good  Englishman,  and  an 
honoured  man.  Hence  comes  a  custom  that,  without  being  posi- 
tively a  vice,  is  coated  with  hypocrisy  —  cant,  the  ritual  of  in- 
destructible conventionality."  The  England  of  To-day,  Oliveira 
Martins,  pp.  94-95.  Some  would  maintain  that,  in  the  protes- 
tantism of  the  United  States,  these  conditions  are  even  more 
accentuated. 


272     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

(3)  Everyone  knows,  in  a  general  way,  that  Chris- 
tianity owed  much  to  the  rehgion  of  the  Hebrews, 
Everyone  knows  also,  I  suppose,  that  Hebrew  reli- 
gion adopted  a  peculiar  attitude  to  history.  It 
selected  particular  events,  limited  in  time,  and  en- 
dowed them  with  timeless  significance.  In  short, 
innocent  of  causal  sequence,  it  elevated  physical 
phenomena  to  the  level  of  supernatural  manifesta- 
tions. Or,  more  strictly,  thanks  to  animism,  his- 
torical sequents  were  transformed  into  dogmas  — 
they  "had  some  unique  influence  on  the  relation 
between  God  and  man."  ^  This  tendency  passed 
over  to  Christianity,  as  the  creeds  show  plainly, 
and  historical  occurrences,  coming  to  be  represented 
as  transactions  between  the  divine  Being  and  hu- 
manity, assumed  the  character  of  opera  operata. 
The  consequence  was  a  most  unhappy  union  between 
two  series  of  experiences,  each  amenable  to  wholly 
different  kinds  of  judgement.  Impossible,  some- 
times offensive  or  trivial,  incidents,  as  history  must 
count  them,  were  thus  forced  upon  Christianity  as 
part  of  its  permanent  content.  Accordingly,  when 
scientific  method  annexed  history,  our  religion  could 
not  escape  assault,  even  impeachment.    It  had  sunk 

*  Some  Dogmas  of  Religion,  John  McTaggart  Ellis  McTaggart, 
p.  2. 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  273 

unwittingly  to  the  level  of  causal  sequence,  and  had 
staked  its  veracity  upon  temporal  and  spatial  cate- 
gories. Now,  matters  religious  win  to  verification 
at  first  hand  in  the  concrete  consciousness  of  devout 
men.  Yet  here  they  were,  jumbled  with  fiction-fact 
capable  of  estimate  by  none  save  trained  specialists. 
Results  guaranteed  by  the  emotion,  sentiment,  and 
aspiration  of  living  souls  lost  their  force,  because 
associated  with  antique  stories  at  once  dubious  in 
themselves,  and  beyond  evaluation  by  every  average 
believer.  Religious  idealism,  essentially  metahis- 
torical  and  metaphysical  in  character,  was  changed, 
by  a  Circean  spell,  into  a  localized  emeute,  subject 
to  disproof  at  any  time  by  critical  investigation,  by 
the  discovery  of  fresh  documents,  or  by  novel  archae- 
ological finds.  Besides,  the  farther  history  goes,  the 
more  definite  her  methods,  the  surer  her  results,  the 
worse  the  plight  of  a  priori  dogmatism.  "If  it  is 
the  methodic  cardinal  proposition  of  the  science  of 
to-day  that  we  have  to  explain  every  condition  as  the 
causally  determined  development  out  of  a  preced- 
ing one,  this  excludes  on  principle  the  appearance 
of  any  condition,  event,  action,  or  personality  which 
is  not  explicable  out  of  the  preceding  conditions 
and  according  to  the  laws  of  genesis  in  general."  ^ 

*  Evolution  and  Theology,  O.  Pfleiderer,  p.  9. 
T 


274    MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE  CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

Moreover,  as  I  have  said  already,  this  science  has 
no  more  than  reached  lusty  youth.  "If  thou  hast 
run  with  the  footmen,  and  they  have  wearied  thee, 
then  how  canst  thou  contend  with  horses?  and  if  in 
the  land  of  peace,  wherein  thou  trustedst,  they 
wearied  thee,  then  how  wilt  thou  do  in  the  swelling 
of  Jordan?"*  The  position  is  so  intolerable  that 
misapprehension  must  lurk  somewhere.  Does  our 
Christianity  depend  ultimately  upon  a  profession  of 
belief  in  incidents,  some  known  to  be  imaginary  and 
absurd,  others  likely  to  be  exploded  any  day,  or  does 
it  not  ?  I  fear  we  must  reckon  to  learn  that  the  for- 
mer alternative  is  nothing  short  of  an  insult  to  our 
religion.  It  cannot  depend  upon  a  dead  past,  or 
consist  of  'stuff'  meet  to  be  tossed  in  a  blanket  by 
scientific  criticism.  And  yet,  this  is  what  many  good 
folk  are  taught  to  deem  indispensable  by  official 
defenders  of  the  faith.  The  irony  of  it  is  unspeak- 
able. Thus,  if  we  could  rid  ourselves  of  this,  as  of 
the  other  secondary  manifestations,  we  would  escape 
much  mental  dispeace,  much  spiritual  bewilder- 
ment, and,  above  all,  we  could  conserve  our  religious 
strength  for  things  which  are  of  the  last  moment  to 
our  present  personal  lives.  For,  an  event  in  history, 
subject  to  temporal  bounds,  must  be  delivered  alto- 

*  Jeremiah  xii.  5. 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  275 

gether  from  this  imprisonment  —  must  cease  to  be 
merely  historical,  in  short  —  if  it  is  to  acquire  con- 
structive significance  for  the  religious  consciousness. 
No  one  will  fathom  Christianity,  for  instance,  till 
he  realizes  that  the  Gospels  are  not  sober  biogra- 
phies, but  cataracts  of  faith.  But,  if  we  will  confuse 
religion  with  births  and  deaths  whose  very  attesta- 
tion is  woefully  fragmentary,  and  therefore  obscure, 
we  must  not  wince  if  historians  maim,  aye,  destroy, 
our  cherished  faith.  Nor  can  we  be  too  clear  that 
special  pleading  will  avail  nought  to  restore  the 
shattered  fragments.  Once  more  the  adjournment 
of  well-being  has  overtaken  us,  and,  if  current  signs 
intimate  anything,  in  a  form  penetrating  beyond  all 
precedent. 

It  must  be  insisted,  however,  that,  although  mo- 
rality, the  church,  creeds,  and  historical  phenomena 
put  us  off  when  we  seek  ultimate  satisfaction  from 
them,  they  are  not  cast  into  the  scrap-heap  there- 
upon. Men  would  not  tend  to  identify  religion  with 
an  institution,  a  confession,  or  a  beauteous  char- 
acter, unless  they  had  some  natural  justification. 
All  these  serve,  or  illustrate,  religion  in  so  far  as  they 
offer  fit  sphere  for  the  play  of  consecrated  senti- 
ment, touch  it  to  fine  issues,  or  conserve  its  hallowed 
associations.     Indeed,  such    achievements    of    the 


276     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

human  spirit  exert  legitimate  influence,  and  are  sur- 
charged with  significance  in  degree  only  as  emotion 
and  aspiration  pulsate  through  them.  But  to  mistake 
them  for  a  full,  true,  and  particular  translation  of  reli- 
gion, as  it  wells  up  from  the  unplumbed  deeps  of  psy- 
chical peace-in-strife,  is  to  invite  heavy  penalties. 
They  face  towards  things  seen  and  temporal ;  it  yearns 
towards  the  unseen  and  eternal.  They  localize  — 
this  is  their  distinctive  function;  it  tries  to  escape 
locality.  They  suffer  constant  change;  it  would 
partake  of  an  existence  that  is  the  same  yesterday, 
to-day,  and  for  ever.  Accordingly,  the  inevitable 
march  of  our  own  consciousness  drives  us  from  finite 
forms,  useful,  nay,  necessary,  in  their  order.  From 
religions,  and  religious  machinery,  we  are  compelled 
to  pass  to  Religion  itself,  in  the  hope  that,  by  its 
strength,  we  may  be  delivered  from  the  bitter  dis- 
appointments wherewith  the  adjournment  of  well- 
being  is  fraught,  thanks  to  the  compromises  and 
contradictions  inherent  in  mundane  affairs.  We 
have  followed  the  gleam  from  the  first  and,  foiled, 
nowhere  more  than  in  its  chosen  representations,  have 
missed  the  one  thing  needful.  At  all  events,  '  Chris- 
tian truth'  has  eluded  our  search.  And  now  it 
seems  that  if,  haply,  we  are  to  establish  any  such 
vantage  for  experience,  we  must  appeal  to  the  reli- 


THE    ADJOURNMENT    OF    WELL-BEING  277 

gious  consciousness  in  its  own  proper  nature.  Pos- 
sibly, we  shall  have  to  abandon  Christianity  as  a 
religion,  and  essay  the  formidable  problem,  Does 
religious  truth  find  its  most  eminent  expression 
through  any  convictions  concerning  God  in  man 
defensible  before  contemporary  insight?  Or,  more 
directly,  Has  'Christian  truth'  such  faithfulness  to 
human  nature  that  it  can  be  regarded,  not  as  an  inci- 
dent in,  but  as  the  ultimate  expression  of,  Religion  ? 


LECTURE   VII 

THE   PENUMBRA   OF   BELIEF 

When  we  take  an  inventory  of  experience,  we  are 
prone  to  ask,  Where  does  it  attain  highest  definition 
or  assurance,  where  are  its  resuUs  least  broken 
by  misgiving?  And  we  answer,  with  no  uncertain 
sound,  In  knowledge,  of  course.  The  temper  of 
the  present  age,  more,  perhaps,  than  even  that  of 
the  scBculiim  rationalisticum,  the  eighteenth  century, 
harps  on  this  view.  As  never  before,  men  stand 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  banded  in  a  unitary  effort  to 
satisfy  passion  through  knowledge,  heedless  of  Faust's 
mischance.  As  never  before,  knowledge  spells 
power,  power  to  invade  and  exploit  physical  forces. 
Yet  any  investigator  will  tell  you  frankly  —  and 
the  greater  his  eminence  the  more  incisive  his  tone 
—  that  the  conquests  of  settled  knowledge  form  but 
a  fragment,  incalculably  minute,  wrested  from  the 
illimitable  unknown.  Mr.  Edison  has  had  the 
temerity  to  state  the  relation  in  terms  of  some  in- 
conceivable   numerical    ratio.     On    the    impressive 

278 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  279 

occasion  of  his  professorial  jubilee,  surrounded  by 
the  world's  leaders  of  science  and  learning,  amid 
a  hush  that  chastened  all  who  had  the  good  fortune 
to  be  present,  the  late  Lord  Kelvin  said:  — 

"One  word  characterizes  the  most  strenuous  of 
the  efforts  for  the  advancement  of  science  that  I 
have  made  pcrscveringly  during  fifty-five  years; 
that  word  is  Failure.  I  know  no  more  of  elec- 
tric and  magnetic  force,  or  of  the  relation  between 
ether,  electricity,  and  ponderable  matter,  or  of  chem- 
ical affinity,  than  I  knew  and  tried  to  teach  my 
students  of  natural  philosophy  fifty  years  ago  in 
my  first  session  as  professor.  Something  of  sadness 
must  come  of  failure ;  but  in  the  pursuit  of  science, 
inborn  necessity  to  make  the  effort  brings  with  it 
much  of  the  certaminis  gaudia,  and  saves  the  natu- 
ralist from  being  wholly  miserable,  perhaps  even 
allows  him  to  be  fairly  happy  in  his  daily  work."  * 

Here,  observe,  Lord  Kelvin  voiced  what  he  knew, 
and  did  not  venture  upon  any  of  his  theological 
pronouncements,  notorious,  occasionally,  for  their 
wayward  naivete.  Of  a  truth,  we  are  immersed 
literally  in  secrets  that  lie  beyond  ken,  whose  very 
existence  we  do  not  so  much  as  suspect,  in  all  prob- 
ability.    At  the  same  time,  it  would  be  foolish  to 

*  Lord  Kelvin,  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Glasgow,  1846-iSQg,  pp.  70-71.     (Glasgow,  1899.) 


28o    MODERN  THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

allege  that  the  hidden  processes  of  'matter,'  'life,' 
or  what  not,  constitute  mysteries,  or  evidence  a  supra- 
rational  dimension.  The  whole  body  of  science 
warrants  the  inference  that  the  cosmos  cannot  be 
ultra-rational  and  remain  a  cosmos.  Unreason 
makes  its  bed  in  chaos.  Our  being  may  seem  mys- 
terious, but  only  because,  as  the  last  expression  of  a 
developmental  effluence,  it  betrays  unforeseen  quali- 
ties. If  the  universe  contain  anything  mysterious, 
if  it  add  to  pure  reason  aught  that  betokens  another 
and,  as  some  would  argue,  a  higher  level,  man  must 
search  his  own  heart  for  the  clew  to  the  unique  riddle. 
The  opaque  depths  of  the  natural  order  do  indeed 
defy  most  cunning  plummet ;  but  in  the  recesses  of 
the  human  soul  elements  flourish  for  which  'nature' 
appears  to  present  no  unmistakable  precedent. 
So,  by  one  of  those  amazing  paradoxes,  apt  to  herald 
the  near  presence  of  truth,  the  penumbra  of  belief 
hints  the  existence,  possibly  the  solution,  of  problems 
which,  did  they  belong  to  a  strange  'external'  world, 
would  lie  hidden  irrevocably  in  the  profundities  of 
the  intractable  unknown.  Thus,  allowing  for  the 
imperfection  of  knowledge,  we  see,  by  a  strange 
shift  of  outlook,  that  we  may  satisfy  our  passion 
through  fulness  of  life,  if  not  by  fitting  it  to  the 
Procrustes'  frame  of  intellect.     For,   in  his  quest 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF   BELIEF  281 

after  an  ultimate  reality,  man  must  either  call  a  halt 
at  immediate  discretion,  or  carry  appeal  to  his  ex- 
perience as  a  whole.  The  unknown  that  immerses 
him  is  at  once  most  baffling  and  most  hopeful  pre- 
cisely within  the  elastic  circle  of  his  self-mediating 
spirit.  "For  what  man  knoweth  the  things  of  a 
man,  save  the  spirit  of  man  which  is  in  him?"* 
And  I  am  not  aware  that  this,  the  human  oppor- 
tunity, manifests  itself  more  characteristically  than 
in  religion,  the  activity  that  differentiates  manhood 
most  of  all  from  the  beasts  that  perish.  Thus  'ap- 
prehended,' as  the  apostle  says  wisely,  one  dismisses 
the  unknown  that  still  lurks  in  the  womb  of  futurity, 
by  transforming  original  emotions  into  vital  con- 
victions. The  surprising  ability  to  universalize 
self,  the  individual,  breaks  forth  and,  idealism  aid- 
ing, the  believer  descries  truth  in  his  acute  sense  of 
union  with  a  perfect  reality.  In  short,  religion  trans- 
figures beyond  aught  else,  because  it  divines  that 
presence  of  the  whole  which  alone  endows  the  part 
with  value  and  intimation. 

If  religion  lack  ability  to  penetrate  the  penumbra 
completely,  at  least  it  can  diffuse  a  light  wherein 
many  dark  places  shine  luminous.  Moreover, 
the  process  neither  originates  nor  proceeds  by  way 

'  I  Corinthians  ii.  11. 


282     MODERN  THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

of  ruthless  dictation;  it  signifies  for  the  simple 
reason  that  it  is  self-generated  and  self-sustained. 
In  one  angle  of  his  experience,  that  is,  man  joins 
himself  to  ideal  completion  through  the  natural 
operation  of  his  own  spirit.  Michael  Angelo,  who 
hid  these  things  in  his  heart,  so  that  he  was  impelled 
by  them  to  his  wonderful  achievement,  has  recorded 
the  movement  with  the  profound  insight  born  of 
personal  sympathy. 

"Yes!     Hope  may  with  my  strong  desire  keep  pace, 
And  I  be  undeluded,  unbetrayed. 
For  if  of  our  affections  none  find  grace 
In  sight  of  Heaven,  then  wherefore  hath  God  made 
The  world  which  we  inhabit?     Better  plea 
Love  cannot  have,  than  that  in  loving  thee 
Glory  to  that  eternal  peace  is  paid. 
Who  such  divinity  to  thee  imparts 
As  hallows  and  makes  pure  all  gentle  hearts. 
His  hope  is  treacherous  only  whose  love  dies 
With  beauty  which  is  varying  every  hour. 
But  in  chaste  hearts,  uninfluenced  by  the  power 
Of  outward  change,  there  blooms  a  deathless  flower 
That  breathes  on  earth  the  air  of  paradise." 

Reduced  to  cold  prose,  this  means  that  religion 
possesses  momentum  to  pierce  the  penumbra  in 
degree  as  it  rounds  itself  out  in  imaginative  aspira- 
tion. Its  creative  prescription  provides  a  foretaste 
—  our  only  one,  as  all  saints  would  attest  —  of  final 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  283 

truth.  If  the  harassed  and  bruised  self,  sensible 
of  utter  imperfection,  can  cheat  the  dreary  doom 
decreed  by  a  blind  Fate,  it  has  but  a  single  resource. 
It  must  master  its  helplessness  by  consecrating  its 
career  to  something  perfect  which  it  perceives,  as 
in  a  looking-glass,  at  the  centre  of  its  own  being. 
Tied  by  the  body  to  the  ambiguous  earth,  it  never- 
theless claims  citizenship  in  heaven  by  virtue  of 
undoubted  power  to  soar  thither.  Its  distinctive 
genius  displays  itself  when,  breaking  through  the 
penumbra  of  knowledge,  it  grasps  reality,  as  it  must 
account  reality,  in  the  penumbra  of  its  own  irradiat- 
ing harmony.  Intensely  sensible  of  failure,  dejected 
by  defect,  it  yet  creates  faith  that  at  once  justifies 
failure,  and  renders  the  necessity  of  defect  tolerable. 
Accordingly,  it  is  encompassed  by  no  forbidding 
mist  of  things  unknown,  but  by  the  stimulative  air 
of  a  larger  experience  wherein  knowledge  plays  a 
subordinate,  if  indispensable,  part  in  the  middle 
distance.  Like  clouds  in  an  autumn  twilight,  intel- 
lectual skies  are  never  the  same  for  successive  mo- 
ments ;  but  the  reason  for  religion  abides  unaltered. 

"And  at  his  side  we  urge,  to-day, 
The  immemoria!  quest,  and  old  complaint." 

As  in  the  elder  days,  when  Springtime,  and  Sun,  and 
Ptah,  and  Ashur,  and  Zeus  were  mighty  to  save,  so 


284    MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE  CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

now,  the  same  fears  compel  the  same  hopes,  the  same 
perplexities  imply  the  same  remedies,  —  the  same  in- 
dividual proclaims,  'Lo,  I  am  universal,'  and  so  it  is. 
Thousands  in  our  own  dull  midst  would  realize 
this  were  they  not  stupefied  by  that  "torpor  of  as- 
surance" which  curses  organized  Christianity  to- 
day. From  their  eyes,  too,  the  eternal  soul  gazes 
out,  and  in  faithlessness  to  its  latent  capacities  — 
because  nothing  will  induce  it  to  look  in.  Having 
eaten  of  the  Dead  Sea  fruit  served  up  by  a  utili- 
tarian education  that  has  lost  touch  with  relative 
values,  imagination  has  fallen  upon  numbness,  and 
spiritual  originality  has  sunk  low.  Unaware  of 
its  own  dynamic  thrust,  the  modern  soul  knows  no 
awe,  and  so  its  heart  is  seldom  enlarged.  In  its 
petty  irreverence  it  worships  the  barren  individual, 
and  the  universalism  of  its  suggestive  penumbra  is 
veiled  in  a  fog  of  picayune  methodism,  fit  habitat 
for  prosaic  citizens  untouched  by  passion,  but  no 
refuge  for  a  living  personality  blessed  with  the  liberty 
wherewith  Christ  and  His  prophetic  forerunners 
have  made  men  free.  Assemble  the  master  poets, 
painters,  musicians,  patriots,  philosophers,  lovers; 
put  them  to  the  question;  ask  them  their  receipt 
for  power,  for  winsomeness,  for  revelation.  You  will 
find  that,  in  all  cases,  it  consisted  in  ability  to  raise 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  285 

self  above  self  into  unity  with  something  worth 
permanent  devotion.  In  a  word,  it  was  identical 
with  religion,  though  less  intense  because  its  object 
centred,  not  in  the  perfection  of  reality,  but  in  a 
symbol  —  beauty,  colour,  harmony,  or  other  limited 
affair.  Thus,  if  religion  fail  to  touch  us  as  they 
were  touched,  how  can  we  sense  its  penumbra,  how 
much  more  must  we  fall  short  of  ability  to  pierce 
through  to  the  truth  it  illustrates?  For  religion 
is  nothing  but  the  eternal  witness  within  human 
experience  to  the  present  incarnation  of  God  in  the 
idealizing  surge  of  man.  Or,  adopting  Ruskin's 
great  phrase,  religion  consists  in  "veracity  of  vision." 
By  it  the  individual  has  become  the  thing  he  predicts. 
A  human  being  encounters,  or,  rather,  contains  truth 
here;  for,  from  a  finite  sectary,  quoting  the  words 
of  a  tortured-  book,  reciting  propositions  mumbo- 
jumbo,  or  clutching  desperately  at  the  skirts  of  a 
temporal  institution,  he  is  transfigured  into  a  cathol- 
icized member  of  the  perfect  reality  immanent  in 
his  own  soul.  Untrammelled  by  the  factual  super- 
stitions of  our  wooden  neology,  veritable  pagans 
enjoyed  calm  to  feel  this. 

"It  is  not  needful  to  lift  up  the  hands  to  heaven, 
or  to  make  petition  to  the  temple-servants  to  permit 
us  to  come  close  to  the  ear  of  the  image  of  God,  as 


286    MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

though  he  could  better  hear  us  there;  God  is  nigh 
thee,  God  is  with  thee,  God  is  in  thee.  Yes,  I  say- 
again,  a  holy  spirit  dwells  in  us,  to  mark  and  observe 
our  evil  and  our  good ;  as  we  treat  him,  so  he  treats 
us.  No  man  is  good  without  God's  aid ;  nor  can, 
unhelped  by  Him,  rise  superior  to  Fate."  ^ 

The  penumbra  of  belief,  then,  as  diffused  by  the 
inbred  freedom  of  the  spirit,  the  permanent  guar- 
antee of  religion,  is  riven  by  shafts  of  inward  light 
that  throw  radiant  beams  upon  truth  and  reality. 
Or,  if  you  prefer  the  audacity,  —  and  religion  can 
never  be  audacious  enough,  —  religion  is  the  sole 
activity  of  human  experience  that  renders  truth  and 
reality  inevitable.  But  Religion,  remember,  not 
mental  suppositions  concerning  it.  For  truth  and 
reality  are  naught  except  as  shot  forth  by  man's 
psychical  claim  of  right ;  they  are  always  disem- 
bodied types  of  self-revelation. 

Notice,  next,  that  religion  tends  to  simplify  life; 
it  snatches  one  from  turbulence,  and  leaves  him  alone 
with  primeval  fact. 

"All  other  life  is  living  Death, 
A  world  where  none  but  Phantoms  dwell, 
A  wind,  a  sound,  a  voice,  a  breath, 
A  tinkling  of  a  camel  bell." 

*  Ep.  xli,  Seneca. 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  287 

What  may  this  import  ?  Some  judgements,  indispen- 
sable in  a  region  of  space  and  time,  have  been  left 
behind ;  need  for  them  exists  no  more.  For  example, 
in  dealing  with  ethical  matters,  it  is  impossible  to 
avoid  classifications  that  introduce  approval  and 
contempt.  But  the  believer,  though  he  contemn 
himself  out  and  out,  cannot  forget  the  unity  with 
perfection  which  is  his  already.  A  destiny  so  tre- 
mendous evaporates  contempt,  but  not  entirely. 
Condemnation  preserves  itself,  but  only  in  the  mood 
that  justifies  such  exclamations  as,  "What  is  man 
that  thou  art  mindful  of  him?  and  the  son  of  man, 
that  thou  visitest  him?"'  Approval,  likewise, 
subserves  no  office  here.  The  work  is  the  Lord's, 
not  man's.  Accordingly,  one  ought  not  to  anticipate 
that,  within  the  penumbra  of  belief,  logical  proposi- 
tions, ranged  stiff  and  severe,  will  rule  the  conclu- 
sions of  faith.  And,  to  this  extent,  the  dimension  of 
religion  may  be  termed  supra-rational  —  not  supra- 
experiential.  Let  us  listen  to  what  the  foremost 
among  living  philosophers  has  to  say  in  elucidation 
of  this  point,  so  easily  and  so  constantly  misconceived. 
I  cite  Mr.  Bradley,  because  his  ruthless  dialectic 
admits  of  no  partiality  to  the  religious  consciousness. 
The  object  of  religion  — 

*  Psalms  viii.  4. 


255     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS    IN    BELIEF 

"is  neither  an  abstract  idea  in  the  head,  nor  one 
particular  thing  or  quality,  nor  any  collection  of  such 
things  or  qualities,  nor  any  phrase  which  stands  for 
one  of  them  or  a  collection  of  them.  In  short,  it  is 
nothing  finite.  It  cannot  be  a  thing  or  person  in 
the  world ;  it  cannot  exist  in  the  world,  as  a  part  of 
it,  or  as  this  or  that  course  of  events  in  time ;  it  can- 
not be  the  'All,'  the  sum  of  things  or  persons, — 
since,  if  one  is  not  divine,  no  putting  of  ones  together 
will  beget  divinity.  All  this  it  is  not.  Its  positive 
character  is  that  it  is  real ;  and  further,  on  examining 
what  we  find  in  the  religious  consciousness,  we  dis- 
cover that  it  is  the  ideal  self  considered  as  realized 
and  real.  The  ideal  self,  which  in  morality  is  to 
be,  is  here  the  real  ideal  which  truly  is."  ^ 

In  a  range  where  the  strait  canons  of  reason  meet 
the  deliquescent  touch  of  affection,  desire,  and  will, 
experience  at  length  sights  truth,  appreciates  reality. 
From  these  it  fashions  itself  a  new  life.  Conflict 
still  persists,  but  its  incidental  terms  belong  to  a 
single  whole,  that  forms  the  presupposition  of  their 
possibility.  This  whole,  the  transitive  human  spirit, 
possesses  efhcacy,  accordingly,  to  direct  its  steps 
beyond  strife  to  peace,  beyond  appearances  to  real- 
ity. The  inner  unity  of  a  given  selfhood  exhibits  its 
truth  by  degrees,  mediated  in  a  series  of  elements 

^  Ethical  Studies,  F.  H.  Bradley,  pp.  284-285. 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  289 

indissolubly  one  through  their  existence  in  and  for 
this  selfhood.  In  each  of  the  parts  the  principle  of 
the  whole  operates  in  its  peculiar  completeness.  That 
is  to  say,  religion  is  ultra-rational,  because,  as  a 
distinctive  process  of  experience  in  its  entirety,  it  can- 
not be  reduced  to  a  form  of  knowledge.  Or,  more 
explicitly,  it  intimates,  and  with  authority,  the 
presence  of  a  disposition  native  to  idealism.  As 
noetic  sclf-rightcousness  would  judge,  it  pleads 
guilty  to  mysticism.  In  this  mysticism  the  penum- 
bral  feature  of  belief  comes  to  potent  birth.  Man 
dares  to  step  beyond  the  bare  affirmation  that  the 
object  of  his  utmost  desire  is  the  reality,  and  seals 
his  faith  by  the  bold  assertion  that  no  other  reality 
exists  save  in  this.  The  personal  self-identification 
provides  the  foundation  whose  builder  and  maker  is 
God.  Here,  finally,  all  obstacles  beaten  down,  our 
common  humanity  agrees  that  it  has  grasped  the 
substance  of  things  unseen.  Backslide  it  may,  but 
never  to  the  old  pit  of  finite  satisfaction.  Life  has 
ceased  to  be  an  interminable  experiment,  —  has 
defined  itself  as  an  imperative  summons  to  imme- 
diate participation  in  the  complete  ideal. 

Belief  sheds  a  penumbra  where  light  and  shade 
tend  to  mingle;  so  much  may  be  taken  as  nearly 
axiomatic.     It  refers  continually  to  a  higher  order, 


290     MODERN    THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS    IN  BELIEF 

unseen  yet  pervasive,  the  incontestable  touchstone 
of  a  worth  that  dispels  degradation  from  all  pres- 
ent things,  and  promises  their  ultimate  renovation. 
Prosaic  rationalism,  with  its  abstract  articulations 
at  second  hand,  has  misprized  this  view,  sometimes 
in  cavalier,  one  might  even  say  slatternly,  style. 
If  faith  is  to  obtain  a  fair  hearing,  its  mystical  ref- 
erence must  receive  impartial  treatment.  It  seeks 
no  generosity,  but  it  requires  us  to  face  its  special 
synthesis  of  empirical  facts.  Misinterpretation  en- 
sues unavoidably  if  an  attempt  be  made  to  swallow 
religion  at  a  gulp,  as  it  were.  Alternatives  press 
for  consideration  when  mysticism  becomes  an  issue. 
For  mysticism  happens  to  be  one  thing  as  a  wrought 
system,  another,  and  widely  different,  as  an  access 
of  "man's  delight  in  the  work  of  God."  We  are 
compelled  to  distinguish,  in  short,  between  the 
fatuity  of  the  philosophy  and  the  inspiration  of  the 
mood.  When  the  mystic  thinker  wings  it  into  the 
empyrean,  his  religion  is  imperilled  by  very  excess, 

"  Pinnacled  dim  in  the  intense  inane." 

But,  on  the  contrary,  his  noble  elevation  partakes 
of  the  magic  susceptibility  inseparable  from  genuine 
religious  conviction. 

In   the   first   place,   then,    systematic    mysticism 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  29I 

would  lift  men  above  this  world,  and  abolish  re- 
sponsibility of  the  spirit  to  the  stern  demands  of 
the  flesh,  would  rebel  against  their  hateful  oppres- 
sion. Overcome  by  sense  of  need  for  complete 
union  with  God,  it  would  desert  the  physical  uni- 
verse, to  satisfy  its  aspiration  through  soporific 
musing  upon  an  ineffable  divinity.  It  would  negate 
all  relations  of  experience  except  those  consecrated 
specifically  by  Absolute  Being.  Once  more,  in  its 
intense  anxiety  to  safeguard  its  pure  Deity,  it  would 
extrude  tJie  'One'  from  nature  and,  having  de- 
personalized mankind,  would  reach  reality  in  a 
'Beyond'  where  its  possible  degrees  had  all  vanished. 
"The  soul  must  sink  in  the  Divine  Darkness,  into 
the  secret  place  of  the  Divine  Abyss,"  as  Tauler 
held.  "There  is  no  safety  save  in  the  Abyss,"  as 
Brifonnet  taught.  "xA.dventitious  reward  may  come 
in  the  consciousness  of  having  conquered  evil  and 
done  good ;  but  true  reward,  essential  reward,  is 
only  in  the  wild  waste  and  deep  abyss  of  inscrutable 
Deity,  in  the  union  of  the  soul  with  sheer  imper- 
sonal Godhead,"  as  Suso  preached.  And,  when 
a  believer  seeks  to  know  concerning  this  'Abyss,' 
"he  must  be  as  one  dead,  he  must  see  neither  dis- 
tinction nor  difference.  For  all  that  is  in  the  God- 
head is  absolutely  one,  and  formless,  and  void,  and 


292     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS    IN  BELIEF 

interminable,  and  passive."  So,  brooding  over 
the  'Abyss,'  Master  Eckhart,  that  mystic  of  mystics, 
affirmed:  "Thereof  we  cannot  speak.  It  is  the 
simplest  essence  of  existence,  it  is  unknown,  and  must 
ever  be  unknown.  It  is  the  simple  darkness  of 
the  silent  waste.  It  is  the  utmost  term."  What- 
ever may  be  said,  by  philosophical  or  theological 
criticism,  for  or  against  these  gyrations  of  ecstatic 
piety,  they  are  at  plain  odds  with  anything  like  our 
common  Christianity,  which,  following  the  evangelist, 
insists  upon  the  practical  character  of  religion.  "If 
any  man  will  to  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  the  doctrine, 
whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself."  ^ 
As  a  practical  scheme  of  salvation,  mysticism  failed. 
He  who  must  toil  in  order  that  those  who  depend 
upon  him  may  live,  is  undoubtedly  the  subject  of 
unrest,  assuredly  experiences  the  frequent  pressure 
of  defect,  and  realizes  the  need  for  its  removal. 
But  how  can  he  devote  himself  to  the  contemplation 
requisite?  Set,  as  he  is,  amid  certain  social  con- 
ditions, how  is  he,  while  performing  his  duty  tow- 
ards man,  to  work  out  his  justification  with  God? 
Mysticism  offers  no  answer,  nay,  dispels  every  hope 
of  reply.  For  the  worldly  career,  even  in  the  ten- 
derest   aspects   and   holiest   duties,    is   a  continual 

'  John  vii.  17. 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  293 

defection  from  deity.  Religion  is  identified  with 
a  specialized  energy  which  beckons  from  obligations 
towards  family  and  friends,  towards  country  and 
humanity,  back  into  the  tiny  circle  of  the  single 
soul's  desire  to  sink  down  into  the  abyss  of  infinite 
and  indescribable  non-existence.  The  blessing  of 
an  ideal  capable  of  being  realized  even  in  the  lowliest 
earthly  tasks  never  so  much  as  occurred  to  sys- 
tematic mysticism.* 

Yet,  system  aside,  a  mystic  element  surcharges 
the  penumbra  of  belief  always.  But  it  is  not  to  be 
interpreted  as  a  logical  construction,  relapsing,  like 
the  philosophy,  into  predestined  vacuity,  but  rather 
as  the  leit-motiv  of  the  fiducial  process.  Faith 
protests  against  the  rationalistic  analysis  that  urges 
the  ultimacy  of  mechanical  judgements.  To  this  ex- 
tent it  welcomes  one  obvious  tendency  of  mysticism. 
In  so  far  as  religion  seeks,  and  finds,  reality  only 
in  the  significance  conferred  upon  every  separate 
thing  by  the  presence  of  a  universal  being,  it  affirms 
a  position  grateful  to  the  mystic.  As  it  adjudges 
experience,  the  final  import  of  human  life  depends 
upon  unity  with  God.  For,  otherwise,  the  individual 
fades  to  a  meaningless  spectre  amid  the  recurrent 

^  Cf.  MedicBval  Mysticism,  in  my  Aspects  of  Pessimism,  pp. 
51-96. 


294     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND    THE    CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

clash  of  its  equally  meaningless  fellows.  Remove 
the  universal,  and  opposition  rules  everywhere; 
cosmic  intimation,  dependent  upon  knowable  in- 
terrelation of  particulars  in  a  single  whole,  would 
thus  become  an  ironical  phrase.  The  penumbra 
of  belief,  accordingly,  bears  no  witness  to  a  God 
manifest  in  dreams,  but  does  intimate  an  elemental 
spirit  whose  ceaseless  operation  conveys  the  sole 
guarantee  that  any  finite  object  can  affect  the  last 
reckoning.  Evidently,  the  mysticism  of  religion 
repudiates  such  folly  as  the  disappearance  of  each 
in  the  'All.'  At  the  same  time,  the  believer  is 
moved  by  something  akin  to  this  idea  when  he  denies 
that  an  earthly  phenomenon  possesses  self-sustained 
stability,  and  affirms  that,  as  we  ascend  the  scale 
of  existence  from  nebula  to  man,  God  reveals  him- 
self in  a  growing  and  more  adequate  revelation, 
whose  intercourse  furnishes  whatever  truth  the 
cooperant  stages  evince.  This  apart,  religion  could 
not  achieve  its  most  tranquillizing  consolation  — 
the  assurance  that  God  confers  inalienable  reality 
upon  men  here  and  now.  All  representatives  of 
religious  genius  have  been  forward  to  confirm 
this  faith.  And,  I  think,  we  must  recognize  their 
veracity  to  their  own  experience,  just  as  we  accept 
that  of  the  naturalist   or  historian   to   his.     Nay, 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  295 

the  point  can  be  pressed  farther.  We  are  bound 
to  insist  upon  our  responsibihty  to  the  conclusions 
of  science  and  history,  because  they,  too,  partake 
in  the  quahty  of  revelation.  They  grip  mankind, 
and  exercise  sway,  in  proportion  as  they  cease  to 
traffic  with  pale  abstractions,  and  concentrate  upon 
affairs  that  form  irreducible  elements  of  events 
through  which  experients  have  actually  passed. 
Suffused  with  the  warm  atmosphere  of  human 
devotion,  they  serve  and  ennoble  the  race,  because 
they  dignify  aspects  of  life  by  justifying  their  reality 
in  degree.  The  penumbra  surrounds  them  after 
their  kind,  in  that  they 

"Have  each  his  own  peculiar  faculty, 
Heaven's  gift,  a  sense  that  fits  them  to  perceive 
Objects  unseen  before." 

Similarly,  religion  certifies  a  new  dimension.  And, 
even  though  the  mystic  note  ring  louder  here,  we  are 
committed  to  heed  those  whose  ears  hear  it,  just 
as  much  as  we  accept  personal  evidence  for  other 
exploits  of  experience.  Indeed,  contemporary 
thought  confronts  no  more  clamant  problem  than  to 
state  and  enforce  this  mutual  recognition  among 
the  various  activities  through  which,  as  a  matter 
of   empirical   record,    men   live   concretely.     If  re- 


296     MODERN    THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS    IN    BELIEF 

ligion  be  mystic  beyond  all  others  in  its  fetch  of 
imaginative  creation,  still,  like  scientific  and  his- 
torical enquiry,  it  forms  one  expression,  among 
many,  of  the  selfsame  consciousness.  If  it  prize 
direct  emotion  more  than  the  clarified  intellectualism 
of  the  ages,  the  truth  remains  that,  for  us  at  least, 
such  emotion  would  have  been  impossible,  lacking 
the  reason.  Each  must  lay  its  gift  on  the  altar  of 
the  other.  Besides,  the  mystical  element  in  the 
penumbra  of  belief,  so  characteristic  of  religion,  is 
attested  by  its  practical  results.  A  poor  starveling 
of  humanity  crawls  forth  to  beg  bread,  and  scrambles 
eagerly  for  crumbs  from  the  board  of  the  prophets 
—  very  minor  prophets  often.  But,  let  the  mystic 
touch  transmute  him  —  he  developes  a  personality 
of  his  own  at  once,  and  yet  in  such  detachment 
from  self  that  his  very  presence  induces  others  to 
walk  the  more  excellent  way.  He  attains  sub- 
stantive selfhood  by  touching  the  springs  of  life  in 
his  neighbours;  for  he  bears  good  news  of  a  power 
that  has  rescued  him  from  petty  aims,  and  liberated 
in  him  that  capacity  to  uplift  which  never  appears 
till  a  man  is  recreated  in  the  decisive  choice  of  the 
eternal  as  against  the  temporal.  I  thank  God  I 
have  been  able  to  commune  with  this  transfiguration 
in  the  persons  of  several  who  were  my  friends.    For 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF   BELIEF  297 

the  experience  proves,  not  merely  that  this  uni- 
versalizing of  the  individual  is  religious  mysticism, 
but  —  what  is  incalculably  more  important  —  that 
it  is  also  soberest  fact.  In  its  practical  effects  it 
bars  the  way,  demanding  that  wc  settle  its  account 
as  adequately  as  the  others.  In  short,  human 
nature  shows  more  things  than  are  dreamt  of  in 
the  circumspect  deliverances  of  the  understanding. 
It  exhibits  man  as  a  perfectly  new,  but  nevertheless 
perfectly  normal,  being.  '  Natural  supernaturalism,' 
the  postulate  and  conclusion  of  religion,  wells  up 
midmost  our  common  life  in  no  less  potent  measure, 
to  say  the  least,  than  abstract  dynamics  or  'causal' 
historicity. 

The  Christian  testifies  that,  in  his  experience, 
this  dimension  of  the  spiritual  career  reveals  itself, 
not  simply  in  a  peculiar  manner,  but  so  as  to  manifest 
the  complete  truth  of  the  relation  between  God  and 
man  in  a  normative  fellowship.  If  his  faith  possess 
the  root  of  the  matter,  he  is  prepared  to  affirm  that, 
for  him,  Christ  has  become  all  that  God  need  be  for 
the  total  justification  of  his  higher  reality.  Tre- 
mendous though  the  asseveration  seem,  it  does  not 
exceed  the  implications  of  the  awful  solemnities 
encircling  our  personal  destiny.  As  far  as  earth 
fails   from   heaven,    our   souls,    in   their   individual 


2g8     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

isolation,  prove  unequal  to  the  '  God  within,'  and, 
in  sheer  helplessness,  seek  some  One,  "nobler  and 
more  splendid  than  is  seen  among  men,"  ^  praying, 
"carry  thou  our  yoke."  ^  The  dread  position  could 
be  saved  by  no  less  bold  adventure.  For,  "all 
human  culture,  natural  as  well  as  spiritual,"  giving 
the  phrase  its  broadest  sense,  "  hangs  upon  inequal- 
ity of  souls."  ^  Two  profound  questions  therefore 
arise  forthwith,  and  we  must  grapple  with  them 
as  best  we  can.  Their  difficulty,  if  unparalleled, 
roots  in  the  nature  of  the  case.  First,  What  is  the 
Christian  conviction?  Second,  What  are  we  to 
think  of  the  Christ  on  Whom,  as  Christians,  we 
repose  our  unreserved  confidence? 

(i)  To  prevent  misunderstanding,  it  seems  neces- 
sary to  observe  at  the  outset  that  Christian  conviction 
must  not  be  viewed  as  if  it  were  a  statement  of  fact 
set  foursquare  in  a  few  abstract  propositions.  Faith 
preserves  vitality  as  a  process  of  functioning  in 
personal  experience  throughout  its  self-sentencing 
career.  If  we  would  fathom  it,  we  Christians  are 
in  duty  bound  to  revert  from  propositions  to  per- 
sons. Approached  thus,  as  a  powerful  influence 
operative    in     voluntary     consciousness.     Christian 

'  Seneca,  Ep.  cxv.  '  Cf.  Virgil,  Mn.  i,  330. 

*  The  Seat  of  Authority  in  Religion,  James  Martineau,  p.  319. 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  299 

conviction  is  normative  primarily.  How,  then,  are 
we  to  interpret  this?  First  and  foremost,  as  a 
definite  attitude,  yielding  estimates  that  control 
practice  distinctively.  To  render  the  meaning 
more  definite,  take  science  for  example.  It  starts 
with  presuppositions  of  its  own.  It  adopts  'natural 
law'  as  a  base-line,  and  proceeds  to  exclude  con- 
trary phenomena.  Intractable  material  is  omitted. 
By  this  judicial  elision  a  unified  result  ensues,  cover- 
ing all  amenable  details  without  exception.  So  the 
numerous  events  that  conform  to  the  'law'  receive 
a  new  dignity;  they  rank  as  'facts'  now.  Yet  they 
are  not  honoured  thus  in  their  own  right.  They 
gain  value  literally,  because  capable  of  conjunction 
with  other  phenomena  in  the  same  sphere.  The 
'  law,'  that  is,  underlies  them  and,  by  enforcement  of 
homogeneity,  elicits  the  import  sought  by  the  in- 
vestigator. There  are  no  degrees;  everything  must 
descend  to  one  level.  Evidently,  however,  this 
method  throws  little  light  upon  religious  conviction. 
And  the  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  In  a  scientific 
conspectus,  all  phenomena  falling  within  the  pur- 
view rank  equal;  no  event  can  enjoy  more  value  than 
another.  But  this  never  applies  in  religion.  Con- 
viction selects  one  factor  deliberately,  and  enthrones 
it  in  experience.     It  becomes  regulative,  not  simply 


300     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

in  the  possession  of  supreme  value,  but  in  that  the 
value  of  other  events  is  no  more  than  derivative 
from  the  norm.  As  they  rise  to  it,  so  they  acquire 
reality.  They  ought  to  be  as  it  is  already.  In  other 
words.  Christian  conviction  ejects  an  ideal,  renders 
it  prescriptive,  and  takes  no  pains  to  equate  it  with 
this  or  that  transient  episode.  It  may  make  light 
matters  grave,  and  grave  matters  light.  In  short, 
a  conviction  is  normative  primarily,  because  it 
erects  a  canon  of  judgement,  and  condemns  all  al- 
leged facts  till  they  change  their  nature  as  it  directs. 
It  does  not  confuse  notoriety  with  greatness,  unctu- 
ous profession  with  saintliness,  popularity  with 
permanent  achievement.  The  breathless  interest 
converges,  not  upon  the  discovery  of  uniformities, 
but  upon  discrimination  between  the  standard  of 
value  characteristic  of  the  conviction  and  the  affairs 
it  enables  the  believer  to  estimate  as  worthy  or  un- 
worthy. That  is  to  say,  a  conviction  rises  to  nor- 
mative sway  when  it  predominates  as  a  rule  of  life, 
or  rather,  as  a  measure  of  the  relative  importance 
of  factors  common  to  life.  The  judgement  affects 
degrees  of  validity,  is  not  concerned  with  descriptive 
accuracy. 

So,  Christian  conviction  may  be  said  to  overturn 
many  worldly  estimates  of  ordinary  things,  for  it 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF   BELIEF  30I 

denies  that  the  value,  attributed  from  other  points 
of  view,  represents  the  true  value.  As  Christians, 
we  will  (or  choose)  to  weigh  things  temporal  accord- 
ing to  the  dictates  of  our  belief.  We  transfigure 
often,  abolish  sometimes,  sure  always  that  our 
criterion  embodies  jubilant  truth.  Or,  stating  the 
case  otherwise,  a  single  positive  ideal  sets  the  per- 
spective, and  casts  its  own  lights  and  shadows  into 
the  farthest  recesses.  Possessed  by  it,  we  adjudge 
the  reality  of  our  nature  to  consist  in  a  definite 
self-activity  whereby  we  universalize  manhood  in 
persons  puny  otherwise.  It  contains  the  sole  wisdom 
of  life  in  the  sense  that  it  alone  mediates  the  satis- 
faction demanded  by  men.  Thus,  for  religion,  but 
a  single  '  fact '  exists ;  phenomena  never  rank  equally 
on  the  same  plane  as  with  science.  The  terms  of 
experience  fill  their  places,  no  doubt,  yet  in  such  a 
way  that  existence  itself  can  never  be  demonstrated 
fully  even  by  summation  of  all  its  parts.  A  unity 
underlies  and  alters  them.  The  conviction  accord- 
ingly transcends  incidental  circumstances  and,  as 
the  dominant  regulative  command  set  over  them, 
assigns  them  their  values  in  measure.  A  normative 
ideal,  therefore,  offers  scope  for  the  complete  and 
free  development  of  the  deepest  insights.  Its 
manifestation    is    constant    and    ubiquitous  —  the 


302     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

little  leaven  that  leaveneth  the  whole  lump.  The 
succession  of  events,  described  as  'history,'  may 
subserve  uses  in  illustrating  its  operation,  but  tells 
nothing  about  the  problem  of  ultimate  validity. 
Thus  Christian  conviction  assumes  most  definite 
guise  in  the  form  of  an  immanent  process  of  greater 
or  lesser  virtue  for  the  upbuilding  of  religious  man- 
liness. It  might  be  defined  as  a  determination  of 
the  life  within  a  life.  It  persists  as  incarnate  in  men, 
they  persist  as  they  incarnate  it. 

But,  secondly,  What  is  this  norm?  It  originates 
in  the  great  dualism  of  self-consciousness  —  the 
contrast,  even  conflict,  between  an  inner  and 
an  outer  world.  Confronted  with  the  difference, 
Christians  affirm  that,  as  between  these  two,  human 
beings,  thanks  to  their  very  constitution,  must  seek 
truth  in  the  inward  part.  Here  we  encounter  a 
permanent  distinction  between  'grasp'  and  'reach,' 
between  'is'  and  'will  to  be.'  Religious  aspiration 
prefigures  a  richer,  purer,  completer  selfhood,  and 
commands  us  to  take  service  with  it.  Moreover, 
in  proportion  as  we  gain  acute  awareness  of  its 
internal  presence,  we  increase  that  tension  of  the 
whole  being  which  I  have  termed  religion.  De- 
votion to  this  upper  dimension  of  reality  motivates 
the  spiritual  life.     Messages  concerning  its  nature 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  303 

emerge  from  it  in  the  revelations  of  religious  genius. 
A  central  authority,  superior  to  all  contrasts,  seizes 
upon  us  and,  as  its  exponents,  we  acquire  significance 
altogether  beyond  our  circumscribed  ego.  Our 
final  value  inheres  in,  as  well  as  issues  from,  this 
pcnumbral  power,  and  so  we  pierce  through  the 
temporal  order,  as  participants  in  a  larger  existence, 
"without  father,  without  mother,  without  descent, 
having  neither  beginning  of  days,  nor  end  of  life."  ^ 
The  old  dimensions  of  past  and  future,  of  breadth 
and  thickness,  lose  importance.  And  with  what  a 
curious  result !  Straightway  we  convict  ourselves 
of  sin.  In  his  pulsating  experience,  the  Christian 
is  gripped  by  the  swirl  of  a  disturbance  that  may 
carry  down  no  less  than  up. 

"Er  braucht's  allein 
Nur  thierischer  als  jedes  Thier  zu  seyn." 

But  the  frightful  possibility  of  descent  discloses  also 
the  power  of  the  normative  ideal  to  capture  the 
whole  person.  And  so  the  appeal  to  a  redemptive 
presence,  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost,  attains  poig- 
nant fervour.  Alienation  from  an  unseen  Reality 
more  potent  than  self  —  awesome  in  its  intimacy 
beyond    the    most    terrifying    forces    of    nature  — • 

*  Hebrews  vii.  3. 


304     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

suggests,  not  merely  its  competence  to  mould  every- 
thing to  its  own  ends,  but  capacity  to  approach /irow 
within,  and  in  friendly  mien.  Personal  communion 
with  the  ripest  actuality  in  our  own  souls  works  de- 
liverance from  their  lowest  impulses  which,  thus 
touched,  display  their  dire  ugliness. 

"Those  who  inflict  must  suffer,  for  they  see 
The  work  of  their  own  hearts,  and  that  must  be 
Our  chastisement  or  recompense." 

A  new  judgement  governs  here,  of  such  a  kind  that 
man  comes  to  be  the  subject  of  a  universalizing  con- 
sciousness pervasive  of  every  cranny  in  his  character. 
Thus,  he  presents  meaning  just  in  proportion  to  his 
apprehension  by  it.  Convinced  of  an  implicit  rest  in 
God,  the  Christian  proceeds  to  realize  it  explicitly 
in  his  daily  walk.  The  homely  becomes  lovely,  be- 
cause love  wills  perfection  in  it,  a  perfection  drawn 
from  the  object  of  its  devotion.  In  brief.  Christian 
conviction  declares  God  to  be  the  normative  content 
of  human  life.  No  doubt  every  ethical  religion  be- 
friends this  conclusion  in  degree.  But,  so  far  as  I 
am  aware,  Christianity  alone  has  exercised  boldness 
to  assert  that  the  ideal  order  finds  its  most  complete 
manifestation  in  and  through  our  race.  Paradox  of 
paradoxes  though  it  be,  Christians  maintain  stoutly 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  305 

the  affirmative  reply  to  the  question  put  so  pointedly, 
in  another  connexion,  by  one  who  is  perhaps  their 
greatest  poet,  — 

"can  he  use  the  same 
With  straitened  habits  and  with  tastes  starved  small, 
And  take  at  once  to  his  impoverished  brain 
The  sudden  element  that  changes  all  things, 
That  sets  the  undreamed-of  rapture  at  his  hand, 
And  puts  the  old  cheap  joy  in  the  scorned  dust?"  ' 

No  doubt,  sometimes,  as  the  poet  continues, — 

"All  prudent  counsel  as  to  what  befits 
The  golden  mean,  is  lost  on  such  an  one: 
The  man's  fantastic  will  is  the  man's  law." 

Nevertheless,  the  conviction  of  "the  sudden  ele- 
ment," once  felt,  ranks  foremost  among  "the  oracles 
of  vital  deity."  Accordingly,  Christian  faith  teaches 
that  temporal  personality  takes  its  place,  not  as  a 
lonely  subject  entertaining  belief  about  God,  but 
as  the  veritable  exhibition  of  a  present  eternal  in  the 
only  form  capable  of  being  grasped  by  man  —  his 
ow^n.  Universality,  always  potential  in  self-con- 
scious individuals,  rises  to  manifestation  in  them  when 
they  enter  spiritualized  manhood.  "Not  my  will 
but  Thine  be  done;"  when  one  can  say  and  enact 
this,  he  is  human  indeed,  but  also  more.     He  achieves 

^  Browning,  in  An  Epistle,  1.  231  f. 
X 


306     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

the  same  mind  as  the  eternal,  wills  in  godlike  style. 
He  confesses  allegiance,  not  to  an  unknowable 
power  without  the  order  of  experience,  but  to  a  sem- 
piternal presence  of  the  Most  High  to  his  will,  that 
enables  him  to  bring  forth  the  bread  of  life  for  the 
nourishment  of  others.  The  truth  of  this  God  within 
the  soul  can  be  substantiated  only  by  those  whom  it 
has  transfigured  so  that  they  enlighten  the  world. 
Christian  conviction,  then,  affirms  a  normative 
"maximizing  of  life,"  possible  solely  through  the 
rush  of  a  mystic  effusion  that  produces  the  transitive 
originality  wherein  one  unfetters  himself,  and  elevates 
his  disposition  beyond  immediate  or  finite  interests. 
But  this  implies,  thirdly,  that  Christian  con- 
viction estimates  the  norm  of  man's  being  in  terms 
of  eternity  —  an  allegation  so  preposterous  that  to 
many  objectors  it  is  inconceivable,  so  they  say. 
Let  us  look  at  it  for  a  moment.  The  question  would 
seem  to  be.  Can  any  interpretation  be  put  upon  the 
presence  of  eternity,  or  an  eternal  element,  to  human 
experience  such  that  even  faith,  let  alone  reason,  may 
compass  some  account  of  it?  Christian  conviction 
appears  to  me  to  require  nothing  less.  And,  clearly 
enough,  the  answer  depends  upon  the  meaning  one 
assigns  to  'eternity.'  If  it  be  convertible  with  mere 
endlessness,  as  is  commonly  supposed,  and  urged  even 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  307 

by  Christians,  the  enquiry  may  be  dismissed  forthwith. 
If  this  embody  what  we  Christians  believe,  we  may 
as  well  halt  at  once  —  for  it  ca)i  import  nothing. 
Obviously,  even  the  more  conventional  doctrine  of 
'immortality'  does  not  insist  upon  simple  length  of 
days;  it  posits  invariably  a  certain  kind  of  being. 
I  take  it,  therefore,  that  Christian  conviction  throws 
its  stress,  not  upon  a  more  or  less  babbling  continu- 
ance, but  upon  a  concrete  existence  expressible  in 
experiential  terms.  And  existence,  once  more,  can 
scarcely  be  predicated  of  'laws,'  'propositions,' 
'principles,'  and  so  on.  It  is  an  indefinable  condi- 
tion peculiar  to  things  and  persons  in  time.  In 
time  —  "aye,  there's  the  rub."  Theologians  have 
intensified  the  difficulty  of  the  problem  unduly  in 
their  anxiety  to  'prove'  the  reality  of  God's  existence. 
They  have  set  this  in  apposition  to  the  existence  of 
events  in  time,  an  unreal  existence,  they  assert.  We 
may  dismiss  this  procedure  as  irrelevant  to  practical 
conviction.  Every  lover  thrills  to  the  reality  of  the 
object  of  his  affection ;  every  artist  to  the  reality  of 
beauty,  and  so  forth.  Moreover,  these  occur  in 
time.  But  this  fails  to  negate  eternal  existence, 
because  a  fact  in  time,  and  eternal  existence,  though 
far  from  identical,  may  be  related.  In  short,  Chris- 
tianity countenances  no  such  ascetic  separations. 


3o8    MODERN  THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

What  Christians  affirm  is  that,  fundamentally, 
all  existence,  which  enjoys  symptomatic  reality, 
must  be  eternal  existence,  or  existence  in  and  to  an 
eternal.  That  is,  it  derives  its  right  to  weigh  in  the 
reckoning  from  an  eternal  factor  functioning  in  it 
now;  the  timeless  whole  confers  reality  upon  the 
temporal  parts.  This  implies,  once  more,  that  what 
we  call  'time'  is  an  illusion  of  our  individual,  as 
distinct  from  our  universal,  nature.  We  obtain 
partial  glimpses  through  sense,  but  fall  short  of 
ultimate  existence  as  it  is  actually.  Here  we  evi- 
dently come  upon  a  figure  of  speech,  a  poetic  state- 
ment ejected  by  imaginative  creation,  a  'way  of 
putting  it.'  And  in  this  Christian  conviction  cannot 
find  rest;  that  is,  its  complete  implication  must 
travel  farther.  Personally,  I  feel  sure  that  it  does. 
It  means  to  assert  that  the  value  of  things,  and  most 
emphatically  of  men,  determines  itself  by  their  in- 
difference to  the  transient  details  of  experience,  nega- 
tively, and  positively,  by  their  subordination  to  pur- 
poses believed  to  be  divinely  inspired.  This  inti- 
mates plainly  that  an  adequate  realization  of  the  eter- 
nal ideal  may  eventuate  within  human  character.^ 

*  A  view  closely  akin  to  this  has  been  elaborated  by  the  most 
eminent  theologian  of  our  communion,  Dr.  W.  P.  Du  Bose,  in  his 
The  Gospel  in  the  Gospels;   cf.  chaps,  vi,  vii,  and  viii. 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  309 

The  gospel  of  a  divine  humanity  would  constitute 
such  an  event.  Moreover,  if  this  consummation 
were  to  overtake  our  kind,  it  could  never  have 
begun,  and  can  never  end  —  for  an  eternal  abides 
without  these  temporal  distinctions.  Besides  its 
apparition  would  not  cancel  or  remove  mistaken 
judgements  of  value  still  operative  with  men  as  a 
result  of  their  sensuous  envelope.  The  mirage  of 
the  world  would  flourish  still,  full  of  loveliness  to  the 
eye,  although  the  spirit  knew  it  for  a  deceptive  show. 
In  short,  Christian  conviction  points  to  an  eternal 
existence  consisting  in  a  certain  quality  of  being, 
without  specific  reference  to  time  past  or  present, 
possibly  without  reference  to  time  future.  So  far 
as  a  detached  object  succumbs  to  temporal  bonds,  it 
misses  completion,  and  must  be  delivered  somehow 
from  this  servitude,  no  matter  how  inevitable  it  may 
seem.  Hence  Christians  represent  their  eternity  as 
a  way  of  life,  consummated  "from  before  all  worlds," 
but  also  as  something  to  he  consummated  in  them  — 
because  fallen  individuals  —  in  an  eternity  to  come. 
Their  regnant  belief  insists  that  the  one,  free  from 
temporal  illusion,  must  save  from  the  temporal 
illusions  which  the  other  cannot  escape.  So  it  may 
be  said  in  passing  that,  if  Christianity  offer  a  problem 
to  philosophy,  it  is  not  the  trumpery  puzzle  of  end- 


3IO     MODERN  THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

lessness,  but  the  extremely  subtle  question  of  the 
relation  between  imperfection  in  a  time-series,  and 
another  kind  of  existence,  to  be  extricated  from  this, 
in  freedom  from  the  defects  that  time  prescribes. 

Our  religion  permeates  us,  accordingly,  because  it 
lends  us  faith  to  comprehend  that  we  enjoy  normative 
fellowship  with  the  eternal  even  amid  the  appear- 
ances of  time,  and  that,  their  vagaries  overpassed, 
we  shall  become  our  true  selves  completely,  because 
so  unified  with  this  eternal  as  to  be  incapable  of 
estrangement  from  it.  It  teaches  us  to  believe  also 
that  this  intimate  communion  with  the  eternal  has 
been  realized  within  human  experience,  thanks  to 
the  spiritual  clarity  of  one  whose  religious  wisdom 
temporal  disorders,  at  their  crudest,  could  not  ob- 
scure. Thus  we  feel  settled  in  the  faith  that  our  lot 
holds  no  ultimate  hope  unless  the  episodes  of  time  be 
rendered  means  of  consecration  to  an  eternal;  and 
that  this'  consecration  is  in  Christ,  may  be  in  the 
spirit  of  any  Christian  convert,  must  so  be  for  him  in 
the  state  where  he  sees  face  to  face.  Now  all  this  is 
quintessential  idealism.  You  cannot  'prove'  it  by 
reference  to  external  things,  or  by  appeal  to  the  literal 
record  of  a  dead  past.  "Thou,  God,  seest  me!" 
No  one  can  fathom  this  confession  who  lacks  ac- 
quaintance with  it  from  the  inside.      If  one  under- 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  3II 

Stand  it,  he  rests  his  case  upon  a  vital  experience  of  a 
power  that  changes  will  and  emotion  so  that  they 
win  intellect  over  to  a  new  range  of  values ;  if  not, 
he  remains  ignorant,  as  Christianity  judges.  For  the 
seer,  the  eternal  constitutes  the  timeless  end  of  the 
personal ;  and  a  person  is  personal  because  his  seed 
from  the  eternal  renders  him  such.  As  Carlyle 
says,  "the  situation  that  has  not  its  ideal  was  never 
yet  occupied  by  man  .  .  .  the  ideal  is  in  thyself." 
Seize  it,  be  seized  of  it,  and  the  vision  of  your  true 
worth  becomes  the  normal  fact  of  common  day. 
Christendom  has  supplied  many  careers  in  point. 
This  humiliation  of  God  to  their  nature  crowned 
them  with  the  only  immortality  whereof  man  has 
assurance. 

Christian  conviction,  then,  presents  at  least  three 
elements.  First,  it  is  normative,  in  that  it  erects  a 
standard  of  value  whereby  it  rates  the  religious 
worth  of  every  event  incident  to  life.  Secondly,  this 
standard  pivots  upon  an  ideal  present  to  the  inner 
vision.  Thirdly,  this  presence  is  conceived  as  the 
witness  of  our  eternity,  when,  having  freed  ourselves, 
through  its  efficacy,  from  the  thrall  of  time  and  sense, 
we  come  to  realize  that  only  in  the  dimension  of  the 
spirit  can  men  flourish  so  as  to  accomplish  work 
destined  to  deathlessness.     So  far  I  have  tried  to 


312     MODERN  THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

describe  the  indescribable.  For  Faith  lives  in 
radiant  joy;  set  it  to  think,  and  it  shivers  in  the 
unaccustomed  atmosphere,  with  woe-begone  gestures 
that  seem  eccentric  or  mayhap  foolish. 

(2)  Hence,  when  the  Christian  proceeds  to  confer 
substantial  rather  than  verbal  embodiment  upon  his 
faith,  he  turns  forthwith  to  Christ.  And  the  ques- 
tion arises.  What  are  we  to  think  of  Christ,  or 
rather,  To  what  do  we  testify  when  we  declare  that, 
in  Him,  the  fundamental  elements  material  to  this 
conviction  reach  supreme  expression? 

You  must  understand,  to  begin  with,  that  the 
profoundest  thinkers  and  holiest  saints  of  Christen- 
dom have  recurred  to  this  problem  continually  — 
to  confess  failure.  It  would  be  gross  presumption 
on  my  part  were  I  to  suppose  that,  without  a  tithe  of 
their  ability,  learning,  and  spiritual  enrichment,  I 
could  succeed  where  they  have  found  themselves 
baffled.  The  truth  seems  to  be  that  the  problem 
eludes  operose  solutions;  anyway,  it  mocks  pure 
intellect.  I  cannot  attempt  more  than  an  indication 
of  my  manner  of  approach  to  it.  Here,  too,  my 
narrow  limits  confine  me  to  the  barest  suggestions. 
It  may  conduce  to  clearness  if  I  cite  three  current 
views  with  which  I  find  myself  unable  to  agree. 

Some  devoted  and  devout  students  of  Christianity, 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  313 

who  form  an  influential  school  just  now,  teach  that, 
after  it  had  passed  from  Palestine  into  the  Roman 
Empire,  our  religion  was  vitiated  by  adoption  of 
ideas  and  tendencies  peculiar  to  Greek  thought. 
Accordingly,  they  have  raised  the  cry,  'Back  to 
history,'  and  have .  laboured  to  arrive  at  intimate 
relations  with  the  Jesus  of  the  Gospels  by  going 
behind  these  pagan  accretions.  Careful  use  of  this 
method  may  result,  assuredly,  in  a  more  definite, 
because  less  doctrinal,  conception  of  our  Lord's 
teaching.  But,  while  it  would  be  sheer  ingratitude 
to  lightlie  these  investigations  and  their  important 
consequences,  it  is  quite  another  affair  to  train  with 
their  representatives  when  they  insist  that  in  this 
manner,  and  in  none  other,  can  we  answer  the 
question,  "What  think  ye  of  Christ?"  Valuable 
as  a  historical  discipline,  the  critico-psychological 
method  seems  to  me  to  err  in  two  particulars.  On 
the  one  hand,  its  estimate  of  its  own  possibilities  is 
too  optimistic.  As  we  have  seen,  we  know  little 
about  the  biography  of  the  earthly  Jesus,  so  little 
that  we  cannot  hope  to  reach  the  eternal  Christ  even 
by  most  minute  study  of  the  New  Testament  accounts. 
Christianity  persists  in  all  that  Christ  continues  to 
be,  far  rather  than  in  what  the  man  Jesus  did  during 
the  recorded  fragment  of  his  temporal  career.     The 


314    MODERN   THOUGHT   AND  THE   CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

fulness  of  the  personality  transcends  our  most  ac- 
curate determinations  of  the  teaching  as  reported  by 
disciples.  We  may,  indeed,  recover  something  of  the 
individual  verisimilitude,  here  a  little,  there  a  little. 
Some  portions  of  the  story  may  turn  out  historical 
indisputably,  others  —  probably  a  larger  total  —  may 
have  to  be  rejected  as  fictitious,  and  still  others  may 
prove  an  admixture  of  history  and  imagination,  so 
closely  interwoven  that  separation  is  impracticable 
now.  But,  in  any  case,  the  universality  present  to 
the  living  Person  escapes  this  process;  happily  it 
neither  needs,  nor  can  submit  to,  any  such  recovery. 
It  abides  intrinsic  to  the  mystic  penumbra  of  Chris- 
tian faith.  Criticism  might  very  well  regain  for  us 
some  of  the  traits  peculiar  to  Jesus  as  he  walked  in 
the  flesh.  But  it  does  not  thereby  acquire  exclusive 
patent  to  uncover  the  ideal  Christ,  Whose  contingent 
symptoms  these  traits  were.  So,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  critico-psychological  method  is  too  pessimistic 
in  its  estimate  of  the  actualities  —  too  barren,  ana- 
lytic, oblivious  of  the  constructive  response  induced 
in  the  regeneration  of  Christian  men.  One  incident, 
more  or  less,  would  aid  our  vital  Christianity  scarce 
a  whit.  The  doings  of  Jesus  are  wrapped  in  ob- 
scurity —  and  this  is  far  better.  His  teaching  we 
know  in  sufficient  measure  from  the  tenour  of  the 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  315 

documentary  sources.  But  the  metahistorical  Per- 
son, as  it  governs  down  the  ages,  we  can  learn  only 
from  those  whom  He  assimilated  to  himself.  This 
should  be  obvious  to  anyone  who  has  tried  to  com- 
mune with  the  early  disciples.  They  at  least  sensed 
the  universal  in  Christ  by  help  of  some  other  witness 
than  companionship  with  the  man  of  Nazareth. 
For  my  part,  I  am  ready  to  accept  this  single  fact 
as  decisive  against  critical  agnosticism. 

Once  more,  nothing  could  be  less  helpful  for  our 
problem  than  the  widespread,  semi-popular  rational- 
ism that  sees  in  the  Life  of  Christianity  no. more  than 
another  Socrates,  Marcus  Aurelius,  or  Spinoza  —  a 
remarkable  moralist.  This  construction  'explains' 
Christianity  by  the  familiar  expedient  of  omitting 
nigh  all  that  originates  the  need  for  explanation.  For 
Christianity  consists,  not  in  a  school  of  thought,  even 
an  ethical  school,  but  in  Christ's  power  to  reproduce 
Himself  in  any  man.  His  way  of  life  contains  the 
condensed  secret,  and  formulates  the  principle  of 
solution.  He  guaranteed,  and  continues  to  guarantee, 
a  relation  of  the  individual  disposition  to  God  un- 
exampled elsewhere,  and  capable  of  'proof  only  as 
brought  to  fresh  illustration  in  Christian  characters. 
Morality  forms  but  one  of  many  events  contingent 
to  it,  and  meets  transfiguration  like  the  rest. 


3l6     MODERN   THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

Finally,  if  the  rationalistic  conception  be  a  parody 
because  extracted  from  a  chip,  the  vague  humani- 
tarian notion,  still  prevalent  in  some  quarters,  is 
just  as  lopsided.  A  generalized  sentimentalism, 
wherever  human  interests  are  concerned,  falls  short 
sadly  of  Christ's  plangent  idealism.  The  yearning  for 
man's  temporal  satisfaction,  daily  comfort  or  decency, 
and  natural  pleasure,  does  indeed  accompany  the  gen- 
uine Christian  attitude.  But  it  issues  from  something 
far  other  —  from  a  conviction  concerning  man's  rela- 
tion to  God.  This  saves  it  from  flabby  benevolence, 
from  green-sick  gush,  from  the  cant  of  vapid  enthu- 
siasm. These  methods  of  approach,  then,  in  their  fe- 
cund kinds,  seem  to  me  failures,  because  they  are  too 
relative,  too  doctrinaire  as  of  an  age,  too  forgetful  of  the 
transitive,  reproductive  universalism  that  is  Christ. 

If  so,  what  are  we  to  say  ?  IVIy  own  feeling  —  for 
it  is  a  matter  of  emotion  and  wish  rather  than  of 
intellect  —  may  be  hinted  if  I  confess  that,  when 
faith  flags,  and  doubts  invest,  I  turn,  not  to  the 
Synoptists,  winsome  though  they  be,  not  to  Paul, 
although  his  matchless  courage  and  magnificent 
self-devotion  overwhelm  one  with  shame,  but  to 
what  I  have  called  the  pearl  of  great  price  in  the 
New  Testament  —  the  Fourth  Gospel.^    The  eternal 

'  See  above,  p.  151. 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF   BELIEF  317 

Christ  is  true  man  —  man  reborn  after  the  spirit,  "by 
a  new  and  living  way,  which  he  hath  consecrated  for 
us,  through  the  veil,  that  is  to  say,  his  flesh,"  as  the 
writer  of  Hebrews  saw.^  For  us,  in  these  latter  days, 
at  all  events,  the  essential  qualitative  truth  receives 
sufficient  emphasis  in  the  memorable  admonition  to 
Thomas:  "Because  thou  hast  seen  me,  thou  h^ist 
believed:  blessed  are  they  that  have  not  seen,  and 
yet  have  believed."^  What  do  we  believe,  then? 
Let  Paul  answer  for  us,  and  in  his  Johannine  mood. 

"The  righteousness  which  is  of  faith  speaketh  on 
this  wise.  Say  not  in  thine  heart,  Who  shall  ascend 
into  heaven?  (that  is,  to  bring  Christ  down  from 
above :)  Or,  Who  shall  descend  into  the  deep  ?  (that 
is,  to  bring  up  Christ  again  from  the  dead.)  But 
what  saith  it?  The  word  is  nigh  thee,  even  in  thy 
mouth,  and  in  thy  heart :  that  is,  the  word  of  faith, 
which  we  preach."  ^ 

Be  assured,  Christ  cannot  conserve  His  reality  for 
us,  and  continue  no  more  than  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
crucified,  dead,  buried.  He  persists  as  the  active 
presence  that  operates  within,  soul  to  soul,  or  we 
have  lost  Him  beyond  hope  of  recovery.  For  the 
Christian,  human  life  on  this  infinitesimal  planet  is 
either  a  quantitative  phantasmagoria,  or  is  capable 

*  X.  20.  ^  John  XX.  29.  ^  Romans  x.  6-8. 


3l8     MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

of  being  charged  with  awful  responsibility  as  the 
fullest  theophany  patent  in  time,  destined,  moreover, 
to  perfect  completion  through  a  divine  humanity 
realizing  itself  untrammelled  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 
And  this  divine  humanity  is  achieved  without  flaw, 
once  for  all,  by  and  through  Christ. 

The  curious  fancy  has  overtaken  me  often  that,  if 
we  compare  the  Synoptists  with  John,  they  seem  to 
be  predecessors  of  Christ,  he  the  veritable  follower. 
The  last  verse  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  indicates  why. 
''And  there  are  also  many  other  things  which  Jesus 
did,  the  which,  if  they  should  be  written  every  one, 
I  suppose  that  even  the  world  itself  could  not  contain 
the  books  that  should  be  written."  The  factual 
element  in  the  earlier  writers  smacks  of  struggle,  bows 
to  local  pressure,  may  be  overset  even ;  the  personal 
touch  of  the  later  disciple  flashes  forth  iridescent 
with  flaming  truth.  John  in  foreign  Ephesus,  or  his 
near  kith,  interprets  the  Person  of  the  Master  as 
universal  life ;  he  makes  it  the  prius  of  the  possibilities 
of  a  history  that  would  spell  cold  prose  otherwise. 
He  attests  it  as  precedent,  primary,  and  reduces  the 
biographical  record  to  illustrative  rank.  His  ap- 
proach, that  is,  issues  from  the  enthusiasm  of  trans- 
muted individual  experience.  Or,  the  actual  pres- 
ence of    God  —  the  eternal  —  in  Christ   conditions 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF   BELIEF  319 

the  effort  to  comprehend  the  man  Jesus.     A  meta- 
historical    person,   uplifted  and   ubiquitous,    creates 
the  importance  attributable  to  a  single  Jew  in  time. 
The  author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  has  been  seized 
of  the  conviction  that  Christ  cannot  be  understood 
by  any  appeal  to  variable  circumstances,  and  that 
these  must  be  interpreted  by  reference  to  the  im- 
pulsive power  of  the  eternal  existence  shining  through 
them.     Completion  of  humanity  prevails  with   him, 
not  as  a  philosophical  idea,  not  as  a  particular  event 
accidental  to  a  place  or  period,  but  as  the  internal 
organization  of  constructive  efflorescence,  always  real 
and   always   regenerating.     "What    things   soever" 
the  Father  "doeth,  these  the  Son  also  doeth  in  like 
manner J^  ^    Here  we  have  the  Johannine  approach; 
the  believer  adds  to  the  record,  now  stereotyped  and 
therefore  chilly,  his  warmth  of  passionate  devotion, 
and  passes  thereby  from  a  historical  one  among  others 
to  a  metahistorical,  renewing  force,  incarnate  finally 
in  manhood.     He  assimilates  himself  to  Christ,  and 
in  this  assimilation  the  witness  of  the  eternal,  ener- 
gizing personality  becomes  self-evident.     In  a  word, 
Christ  achieves  place  as  divine  through  the  conse- 
cration of  His  followers.     The  inexhaustible  fresh- 
ness it  is  that  supplements  the  partial  tale  of  the  life 

'  John  V.  19,  R.V. 


320     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

on   earth,   and    acknowledges  therein   a   life   from 
heaven. 

This  universality  of  Christ,  in  the  concrete  faith  of 
His  disciples  who  had  not  seen,  solves  the  apparently- 
insoluble  problem  of  a  God-man  walking  in  Galilee 
of  Judea.  The  agnosticism  which  alleges  that  the 
Prologue  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  "is  not  the  key  to 
its  comprehension,"  ^  contrives  precisely  to  invert 
the  situation.  One  suspects  it  for  a  mere  foible  of 
scholastic  thinking.  By  his  cosmic  presence,  in  the 
exhibition  of  a  redemptive  and  ubiquitous  life  in 
human  kind,  Jesus  served  himself  Christ;  but  this, 
the  ordained  end,  could  not  become  apparent  till 
believers,  having  perceived  the  Christ  in  and  for 
themselves,  developed  ability  to  recognize  what  a 
universal  and  eternal  existence  might  purport. 
This,  the  completion  of  Jesus'  work,  necessarily 
eventuated  ere  his  divinity,  as  man's  Christ,  could 
enter  the  human  spirit  in  triumphant  victory.  The 
validity  of  Christ,  that  is,  broke  forth  from  the  '  One 
God'  creative  of  history,  not  from  any  annalistic 
statement  within  history.  Christ  appeared  in  final 
reality,  not  during  the  period  when  "hitherto  ye 
have  asked  nothing  in  my  name,"  but  when  the 

'  A.  Harnack,  in  d.  Ztschr.f.  Theol.  u.  Kirche,  vol.  ii,  pp.  189  f. 
Cf.  History  of  Dogma,  vol.  i,  chap,  ii,  sects.  3-6. 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  32I 

saying  was  proven,  "Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive,  that 
your  joy  may  be  full."  *  The  Master  evinced 
'heavenly'  (that  is,  universal  or  eternal)  value, 
through  the  mystic  facts  evidential  of  His  career 
after  death  in  the  souls  of  His  servants.  Here,  at 
length,  man  discovered  Him  as  the  God  within  the 
soul,  mighty  to  save.  Thus,  and  thus  only,  it 
became  apparent  that  no  antithesis  exists  be- 
tween God  and  man,  but  a  perfect  indwelling  of 
the  eternal  in  the  temporal.  Thus,  too,  Jesus 
passed  over  into  the  Son  of  God  —  the  Christ  with 
us.  For,  as  Keim  says,  with  penetrating  insight, 
"He  has  filled  up  the  gulf  between  the  One  and 
the  Many  which  Moses  dug  and  no  prophet  bridged 
over."  ^ 

Unquestionably,  this  estimate  of  all  that  Christ 
is  approves  itself  primarily  to  Christian  piety.  But 
it  was  never  meant  to  accomplish  aught  else,  hence 
the  secret  of  missionary  zeal.  We  are  not  saved  by 
an  opus  operatum,  or  by  a  speculative  genius,  or  by 
a  hero,  or  by  a  demigod,  but  by  the  reproduction  in 
us,  according  to  our  own  original  effort,  of  the  spirit- 
ual manhood  which  Christ  conveyed.  Not  that  He 
needs  anything  at  our  unclean  hands;  nevertheless, 
our  communion  offers  the  only  present  certification 

'  John  xvi.  24.  ^  Jesus  of  Nazara,  vol.  vi,  p.  429. 

Y 


322     MODERN   THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

of  His  transcendent  potency.  It  seals  the  eternal  in 
Him.  "Know  ye  not  that  ye  are  the  temple  of  God 
and  that  the  spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  you?"  ^ 
We  do  know,  and  this  knowledge  it  is  that  approves 
the  largest  indwelling  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the 
deepest  convictions  of  Christians.  Only  to  children 
of  the  flesh  can  incarnation  intimate  anything.  With 
them  it  happens  to  be  a  normal  event;  in  Christ 
they  discern  the  full-throated  message  for  which  this 
event  came  into  being,  without  which  it  goes  to  pieces 
as  the  most  intolerable  error  perpetrated  by  heedless 
cosmic  Fate.  And  so,  for  the  Christian,  through  his 
transformed  personal  experience,  Christ  is  "alive 
for  evermore"  ^  as  the  explicit  manifestation  of  the 
normative  presence  of  the  divine  nature  —  a  nature 
implicit  in  man,  if  man  is  to  be  reckoned  as  a  being 
who  possesses  any  differentiating  mark  of  his  very 
own. 

And  the  attestation?  Any  believer  can  furnish 
it.  If  Jeremiah  could  declare,  "His  word  was  in 
mine  heart  as  a  burning  fire  shut  up  in  my  bones,  and 
I  was  weary  with  forbearing,  and  I  could  not  stay,"  ^ 
how  much  more  he  who  has  made  common  cause 
with  a  'Comrade-God,'  a  familiar  among  the  sons  of 
men.     A  human  God  was  our  imperative  necessity. 

'  I  Corinthians  iii.  i6.         ^  Revelation  i.  i8.        ^  xx.  9. 


THE    PENUMBRA    OF    BELIEF  323 

From    the   plenitude   of   His   nature,    "touched   in 

all    things    like    as  we    are,"  our   emptiness   could 

be    filled.     J\Iystic    though    the    penumbra    of    this 

faith  be,   it  intimates  the    basal    truth   concerning 

our  divided  life.     "For  this  cause  came  I  unto  this 

hour."  ' 

'  John  xii.  27. 


LECTURE    VIII 

THE    VALLEY    OF    BLESSING 

Readers  of  the  Old  Testament  will  recall  that  the 
Chronicler  relates  a  curious  story,  not  told  elsewhere, 
about  a  wonderful  victory  gained  by  Jehoshaphat, 
son  of  Asa,  over  the  "  children  of  Ammon,  Moab,  and 
mount  Seir,"  although,  at  first,  the  king  had  been 
"dismayed  by  reason  of  this  great  multitude."  ^ 
Success  won,  the  Judeans  "assembled  themselves  in 
the  valley  of  Berachah:  for  there  they  blessed  the 
Lord."  Like  them,  we  have  found  few  substantial 
reasons  to  fear  the  dangers  that  seem  to  compass 
religion  in  these  days.  But,  like  them  too,  we  must 
remember  that  the  valley  is  no  mountain  top  where 
we  may  dwell  safely  in  serene  disregard  of  the  en- 
circling world.  Christianity,  as  Religion,  may  indeed 
bless.  Nevertheless,  we  are  fated  to  fare  forth  to 
our  daily  labours,  and  to  meet  many  perplexities  on 
their  own  chosen  ground.  Our  faith  will  not  avail 
us  much  if  we  fail  to  employ  it  actively,  and  this 

*  Cf.  2  Chronicles  xx.  1-30. 
324 


THE    VALLEY    OF   BLESSING  325 

without  taking  unfair  advantage  of  bare  conventions. 
Culture  presses  forward,  developing  new  situations, 
raising  fresh  issues,  and  we  hinder  rather  than  help 
Christianity  by  reluctance  to  meet  the  onset  of  varia- 
tion. Thus,  in  order  to  round  out  our  enquiry,  we 
had  better  confront  several  obvious  difficulties.  They 
are  of  a  more  or  less  practical  kind,  and  often  give 
the  enemy  occasion  to  scoff.  Belief  or  no  belief, 
we  work  midmost  modern  life  and,  despite  wishes, 
are  unable  to  comport  ourselves  as  if  we  were  con- 
temporaries of  Paul,  of  Augustine,  of  Baxter,  of 
Pearson,  of  Butler,  of  Keble,  or  even  of  Brooks.  We 
need  imagination  to  recognize  that  we  stand  account- 
able as  much  for  our  good  as  for  our  bad  deeds. 
In  some  ways,  moreover,  the  stress  of  the  good  may 
prove  no  less  severe  than  that  of  the  evil.  For  light 
and  shade  blend  here  below.  As  Nietzsche  said, 
"  unfathomably  shrewd  is  the  stupidity  of  the  good:" 
"myself  I  sacrifice  unto  my  love,  and  my  neighbour 
as  myself." 

First,  then,  if,  as  we  have  tried  to  see,  Christianity 
represent  the  true  central  stream  of  religion,  if,  as 
some  claim,  it  be  the  '  absolute '  religion,  Why  has  it 
failed,  and  failed  conspicuously,  to  master  the  human 
race?  The  deepest  shadows  of  the  valley  envelope 
us  when  we  face  this  sullen  fact.     But  there  it  stands, 


326    MODERN   THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

leering  at  our  bright  hopes,  giving  the  lie  to  our  fond 
assurances.  Of  course,  figures  are  deceptive,  and  fur- 
nish no  more  than  an  approximation.  Agreed  that 
the  various  faiths  of  the  world  count  1,540,000,00  ad- 
herents, Christianity  in  its  many  branches  numbers 
but  a  fraction  more  than  thirty-three  per  cent  — 
520,000,000.  Even  more  startling  is  the  situation 
in  the  British  Empire,  where  Christianity  occupies 
the  third  place.-  Of  King  Edward's  subjects, 
206,000,000  profess  Hinduism,  75,000,000  Moham- 
medanism, 60,000,000  Christianity.^  In  other  words, 
our  religion  has  made  little  impression  upon  Asia, 
the  mother  of  immemorial  civilizations,  the  birth- 
place of  the  ethnic  faiths  regnant  now,  the  home 
of  900,000,000  men.  Moreover,  to-day  Islam  rules 
the  land  which  Jesus  illuminated,  the  scenes  of 
Paul's  principal  labours,  the  age-old  empire  where 
the  greatest  thinkers  of  early  Christianity  held  sway, 
the  places  where  Augustine  met  his  epoch-making 
experiences,  and  its  political  metropolis  was  the 
capital  of  the  first  Christian  emperor.  It  attaches 
Asia  at  the  rate  of  from  25,000  to  50,000  converts 
per  year,  —  perhaps  many  more,  as  some  authorities 

^  Cf.  Comparative  Religion,  its  Genesis  and  Growth,  Louis 
Henry  Jordan,  p.  573  f.  I  happen  to  know  from  an  independent 
source  that  Mr.  Jordan  has  taken  the  greatest  pains  to  verify  his 
figures. 


THE    VALLEY    OF    BLESSING  327 

declare.  Further,  in  Africa,  it  has  seized  upon  the 
north,  upon  the  vast  districts  of  the  Upper  Niger 
and  Upper  Senegal,  has  spread  south  far  down  the 
east  coast,  and  gains  steadily  along  the  Atlantic 
fringe;  so  much  so,  that  one-half  of  the  continent  is 
Moslem;  two-thirds  feel  Mohammedan  influences; 
thirty-six  per  cent  of  the  population  profess  Islam; 
while,  Copts  and  Abyssinians  aside,  Christianity 
must  rest  content  with  less  than  three  per  cent. 
Nor  does  the  account  close  here.  One  would  antici- 
pate great  success  for  Christianity  in  Hindustan, 
where  the  pax  hritannica  affords  protection  and 
favourable  auspices.  Nevertheless,  the  British  have 
not  divined  the  inner  character  of  their  Indian  sub- 
jects, especially  on  the  religious  side,  and,  as  a  con- 
sequence, Christianity  has  secured  no  grip,  save  in 
the  Madras  province  of  Tinnevelli,  where  1 50,000  of 
the  2,900,000  Christians  resident  in  India  are  to  be 
found. ^  It  suffices  nothing  to  cast  all  this  in  the 
teeth  of  missionaries  as  a  class.     For,  on  the  whole, 

*  An  apparent  exception  to  this  may  be  found  in  INIalabar, 
where  more  than  one-tifth  (571,000)  of  Indian  native  Christians 
are  to  be  found.  The  legend  is  that  Christianity  was  introduced 
here  by  St.  Thomas.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  undoubtedly 
ancient  (sixth  century,  perhaps),  and  stands  aside  from  m-odcrn 
missionary  activity.  Cf.  Tlie  Indian  Christians  of  SI.  Thomas, 
W.  J.  Richards. 


328     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND    THE    CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

they  are  staunch  to  their  profession,  work  devotedly, 
often  amid  most  discouraging  difficulties  and,  in 
India  at  least,  have  won  respect,  if  not  complete 
confidence,  from  every  class.  Black  sheep  appear 
amongst  them,  as  is  inevitable.  But  their  very 
rarity  excites  vivid  attention,  and  thus  acquires 
importance  out  of  proportion  to  ratio. 

Anyone  who  has  considered  the  subject  without 
prejudice,  and  reviewed  the  astonishing  figures,  will 
tell  you  to  seek  the  causes  deeper.  It  is  no  part  of 
my  intention  to  discuss  them  now,  for  I  am  leading 
up  to  a  larger  question,  as  you  will  see  directly.  But 
I  may  indicate  one  or  two  points. 

For  instance,  why  should  a  religion  of  Asiatic 
origin  miss  appeal  to  Asiatics  so  thoroughly?  ^  The 
result  is  the  more  remarkable  when  one  acknow- 
ledges that,  beyond  all  men,  Asiatics  delight  in 
religion,  and  evince  extraordinary  capacity  for  con- 
centration upon  things  of  the  spirit.  Well,  every 
religion  must  express  itself  in  what  may  be  termed  a 
polity.  And,  if  Christianity  drew  its  original  impulse 
from  Asia,  its  polity  is  Occidental  through  and 
through.  As  a  consequence,  it  carries  this  polity 
with  it  in  the  persons  of  its  representatives  wherever 

^  Cf.  The  Naturalization  of  Christianity  in  the  Far  East, 
Edward  C.  Moore,  Harvard  Journal  of  Theology,  vol.  i,  no.  3. 


THE  VALLEY  OF  BLESSING         329 

it  penetrates.  One  laughs  aloud  as  he  considers  the 
feelings  of  a  high-caste  Hindu  Pundit,  who  is  asked 
to  walk  lock-step  with  a  respectable  bourgeois  Eng- 
lishman, or  a  conventional  middle-class  American,  in 
order  that  he  may  participate  fully  in  the  blessing  of 
a  higher  religion !  The  Hindu  deems  our  civilization 
folly;  nevertheless,  we  would  have  him  'civilized' 
after  our  fashion  as  a  necessary  accompaniment  of 
christianization.  We  try  to  teach  him  the  English 
language,  to  introduce  him  to  English  literature, 
to  inoculate  him  with  'Anglo-Saxon'  manners,  to  fill 
his  head  with  Occidental  science,  —  in  short,  we 
would  have  him  turn  his  back  upon  his  own  ancient 
culture,  so  that  he  might  hold  up  his  head  within 
the  fair  precincts  of  our  faith.  Needless  to  say, 
fatuity  could  go  no  farther.  The  riddle  reads  plain 
enough,  —  if  there  is  to  be  Asiatic  Christianity,  it 
must  come  through  Asiatics,  Arab  Christianity 
through  Arabs,  Negro  Christianity  through  Negroes. 
We  shall  have  to  drop  the  futile  task  of  cutting  alien 
civilizations  to  our  pattern  as  the  prelude  to  religious 
conversion,  and  proceed  to  devise  plans  for  their 
transformation  from  within  by  their  own  folk.  And 
why?    Take  the  first  case. 

An    impassable    barrier  still    separates    Oriental 
from  Occidental  culture.     Despite  all  the  benefits  — 


330     MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE  CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

and  any  just  man  knows  them  for  legion  —  she  has 
conferred  upon  India,  Britain  has  failed  to  lay  vital 
grasp  upon  any  considerable  part  of  the  population. 
In  passing,  the  same  may  be  said  of  Russia  in  the 
East.  And  the  middle  wall  of  partition  is  as  much 
religious  as  aught  else.  Or,  rather,  it  takes  the  shape 
of  religion  wrought  into  a  complex  social  system. 
We  concentrate  interest  upon  objects  in  space  and 
time,  Asiatics  upon  timeless  ideas ;  our  life  is  individ- 
ualized and  secular,  theirs  socialized  and  theosophical. 
The  master  ideals  of  the  two  culture-spheres  will  not 
mix.  Little  wonder,  then,  that  the  Asiatic,  proud 
of  his  immeasurable  past,  dislikes  Christianity,  the 
religion  of  a  'superior'  people,  who  would  disrupt 
his  social  system,  and  who  will  not,  indeed  cannot, 
intermarry  with  him  or  otherwise  share  life  on  terms 
of  intimate  equality.  Our  religion  would  render 
him  a  waif  in  his  own  land,  an  outcast  from  his  kin, 
would  leave  him  naked  and  raw  amid  the  only  civili- 
zation he  knows  or  can  appreciate.^  Need  we  be 
surprised,  then,  that,  if  dissatisfied  with  obsolescent 
Hinduism,  shaken  by  our  science,  he  joins  himself  to 
Islam,  where  he  finds  practical  equality,  and  not  a 
beauteous,  verbal  theory  ?  Every  thoughtful  Anglo- 
Indian  is  aware  that  the  Asiatic  would  be  rid  of 

*  Cf.  Matthew  xxiii.  15. 


THE    VALLEY    OF   BLESSING  33 1 

British  rule  at  once,  not  because  it  is  bad,  —  its 
justice  Indians  admit  freely  (and  resent!), — but 
because  he  would,  above  all  things,  return  to  his 
old  paths,  would  be  himself,  in  short,  and  cease  to 
pose  at  the  behest  of  disagreeable  intruders.  Nay, 
likely  enough,  the  dumb  millions  have  their  reasons. 
The  complete  sterility  of  English  education  in  India 
were  enough  in  itself.  The  system  has  produced 
no  native  of  first-class  ability,  and  is  responsible, 
possibly,  for  the  significant  decline  of  Indian  origi- 
nality in  architecture,  literature,  art,  politics,  as  also 
for  the  slow  dissolution  of  the  principal  religion. 
To  have  relegated  the  Pundit  to  the  background, 
and  suckled  the  Baboo,  is,  indeed,  a  glorious  achieve- 
ment, calculated  to  arouse  pride !  Did  not  Rome 
succeed  amazingly  in  a  parallel  way?  Many  other 
things  might  be  said,  but  we  cannot  stay.  Briefly, 
then,  Christianity  must  express  itself  afresh,  from 
within  the  Asiatic  and  African  civilizations,  ere  it 
can  hope  to  remove  the  huge  blot  upon  its  missionary 
success.  We  should  learn  to  attribute  past  failure 
not  to  our  religion,  but  to  ourselves,  its  half-hearted 
and,  sometimes,  thick-headed  upholders. 

Now  this  raises  a  far  wider  issue.  We  share  the 
accomplished  blessing,  but  we  are  condemned  to 
continue  in  the  valley  of  life.     And  the  question 


332     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

arises,  Is  Christianity,  as  we  know  it,  to  remain  an, 
abiding  thing,  finished  and  adequate,  or  is  it  possible ' 
that  man  must  still  anticipate  momentous  changes 
within  it?  This  problem  relates  primarily  to  what 
I  have  called  polity,  and  is  therefore  of  practical 
interest  mainly.  Accordingly,  it  involves  another, 
and  theoretical,  enquiry  that  may  be  put  as  follows : 
Is  the  'absolute'  element  in  Christianity  fixed  and 
static  ?  Or,  on  the  contrary,  is  it  in  process  of  such 
transformation  that  it  may  be  overpassed  some  day  ? 
In  the  language  of  religion.  Can  the  kingdom  of  God 
attain  more  concrete  expression  on  earth?  These 
issues  may  seem  unusual,  perhaps  impertinent. 
Yet  we  cannot  shake  them  off  under  temporal  con- 
ditions. What  I  wish  to  urge  is  that,  if  Christianity 
lag,  we  its  children  must  bear  the  blame,  unless  we 
muster  courage  to  encounter  even  the  most  discon- 
certing phenomena.  "The  good  are  indeed  saviours 
of  society,  but  only  as  they  find  its  sins  in  them- 
selves." ^  Who  supposes  that  even  the  best  have 
exhausted  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ? 

It  were  superfluous  to  prove  that  religion  and  polity 
cannot  be  separated.  The  one  manifests  itself  in 
numerous  activities  that  would  be  impossible  apart 
from  the  other.     Accordingly,  as  they  interpenetrate 

'  Philosophy  of  History,  Alfred  H.  Lloyd,  p.  228. 


THE    VALLEY    OF   BLESSING  333 

inevitably,  they  interact  constantly,  and  contribute 
in  common  to  many  movements.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  reason  for  this  interdependence  exhibits 
every  sign  of  extreme  subtlety  —  it  has  been  stated 
in  most  various  and  conflicting  forms.  I  am  in- 
clined to  believe  that,  in  the  present  state  of  socio- 
logical knowledge,  a  general,  though  not  necessarily 
vague,  description  must  suffice.  A  religion  and 
(if  you  please)  a  secular  polity  agree  in  one  conspic- 
uous quality.  They  evince  a  formative  tendency 
that  no  contingent  events  serve  to  explain.  The 
controlling  force  in  both  attaches  to  a  metahistorical 
element.  It  attests  the  operation  of  a  power  that 
cannot  be  referred  to  single  individuals  as  their 
attribute.  It  is  impossible  to  track  the  state  to 
contingent  events,  or  to  abstract  statements  of  belief, 
any  more  than  the  church.  And,  all  things  con- 
sidered, it  seems  possible  that  we  know  this  power 
best  in  group-life,  even  if,  as  also  seems  possible, 
any  particular  group  illustrates  aspects  of  the  whole, 
and  perhaps  hides  the  complete  verity.  For  example, 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  many  rationalistic  critics 
of  religion  were  pleased  to  identify  it  with  priest- 
craft. It  was  an  evil  in  their  eyes,  but  not  unmixed. 
Bad  as  the  ally  of  superstition  against  enlightenment, 
it  might  be  good,  notwithstanding,  as  "a  bridle  in 


334    MODERN  THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

the  mouth  of  the  sensual  mob."  Jejune  as  these 
notions  appear  now,  they  held  a  modicum  of  truth. 
If,  in  the  life  of  a  polity,  some  men  —  the  ministers  of 
religion,  say  —  be  set  apart  as  the  exclusive  repre- 
sentatives of  a  definite  activity,  then  you  must  an- 
ticipate that,  from  time  to  time,  this  very  selection 
will  react  upon  the  organization  in  general.  Em- 
phatically, the  interests  of  the  official  class  may 
diverge  seriously  from  those  of  the  community,  and 
to  such  a  degree  as  to  arouse  fierce  antagonism. 
The  story  of  bureaucracy  needs  no  comment.  The 
phrases,  '  high-priests  of  science,'  '  magnates  of 
finance,'  'mandarins  of  education,'  and  the  like, 
serve  to  hint  that  the  same  process  operates  in  other 
directions  as  well.  Now  this  implies  that,  in  the 
differentiations  necessary  yet  accidental  to  polity, 
specialists  are  prone  to  forget  their  own  origin. 
Their  inmost  life  flows  from  "the  general."  So, 
if  they  seclude  themselves  or  magnify  their  office, 
they  imperil  their  dearest  hopes.  The  moment  any 
group  stereotypes  itself,  and  would  limit  the  expres- 
sion of  the  metahistorical  principle  ascetically  to  a 
disrupted  part,  an  artificial  condition  eventuates, 
and  conflict  becomes  inevitable.  Needless  to  say, 
this  very  thing  has  overtaken  Christianity  more 
than  once  in  the  Western  world,  and  always  with 


THE    VALLEY    OF    BLESSING  335 

the  same  result.  The  sequel  —  self-confidence  — 
has  drawn  opposition,  and  has  been  forced  to  abate 
its  pretensions.  One  sees  similar  phenomena  in  other 
grooves  —  in  science,  for  instance.  Compare  its 
present  tone  with  that  rampant  a  short  generation 
ago;  the  raucous  note  is  raised  no  more.  And  the 
moral  would  appear  to  be  that  religion,  like  every- 
thing else,  must  retain  intimate  relations  with  polity 
as  a  whole;  socialization  provides  an  essential 
seed-plot.  It  ought  to  incline  away  from  itself, 
as  it  were,  that  it  may  enjoy,  not  rude  health  of  outer 
estate,  but  real  influence  through  the  entire  ethos. 
If  it  retire  to  its  sacred  precincts,  unavoidably  its 
idealization  of  the  community  will  fall  short  of  a 
thorough  mission.  Nay,  things  being  what  they 
are,  the  presence  of  a  complex  polity  to  religion  acts 
as  a  defence  against  the  conceits  of  archaism.  The 
polity  might  well  suffer  from  some  species  of  Chris- 
tianity; but  our  hearts'  desire  is  that  it  succeed  by 
the  power  of  religious  truth.  Its  very  defects  should 
offer  security  for  the  future  of  a  militant  faith. 

Besides,  such  is  human  nature  that  a  polity  forms 
an  indispensable  instrument.  For,  as  the  philoso- 
pher would  put  it,  religion  needs  opposition  in  order 
to  pass  through  self-alienation,  the  painful  prelude 
to  fitness  for  a  fuller  revelation.     In  our  universe, 


336     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

absence  of  growth,  of  power  to  expand,  is  synony- 
mous with  death.  Religion  enjoys  no  exemption 
from  this  rule.  If  it  would  progress,  in  the  sense  of 
maintaining  positive  dominion,  it  must  keep  with 
society.  In  addition,  the  more  it  pervades  communal 
affairs,  the  more  it  finds  ready  intercourse  with  the 
ideals  and  activities  symptomatic  of  other  spheres; 
that  is,  the  more  ubiquitously  it  witnesses  the  pres- 
ence of  the  metahistorical  power  which  never  be- 
longs to  single  persons  or  to  sectarian  groups.  It 
is  enhanced,  because  multiplied  with  other  factors, 
not  only  incidental,  but  needful,  to  its  saving  career. 
Yet  at  a  price.  The  polity  develops  many  features 
that  may  retard,  even  when  they  do  not  vitiate,  the 
religion.  Hence  a  constant  opposition  marks  the 
neighbourly  existence  of  both.  Neither  can  dis- 
pense with  the  other,  and  yet  each  tends  to  subserve 
its  own  distinctive  aim.  In  short,  while  a  polity  is 
essential  to  Christianity,  Christianity  is  not  essential 
to  this  or  that  polity;  so  the  ideals  of  the  polity  and 
the  religion  may  diverge,  even  although  alliance  be 
necessary  to  the  socialized  ends  of  both.  Thus  it 
may  be  perfectly  true  that  Christianity  suits  Occiden- 
tal civilization,  Hinduism  Oriental  culture,  Moham- 
medanism Negro  society,  and,  at  the  same  time,  it 
may  be  perfectly  true  that  the '  absoluteness '  of  Chris- 


THE    VALLEY    OF    BLESSING  337 

tianity  remains  unaffected.  In  any  event,  no  one 
can  deny  that  many  characteristics  of  Western  polity 
do  antagonize  our  religion.  And  if,  as  some  allege, 
the  latter  stands  on  trial  to-day,  it  is  no  less  plain 
that  the  former  has  reached  the  assize  also.  The 
one  cannot  be  weighed  without  the  other.  The  vast 
differentiations  of  Occidental  life  have  resulted  in 
partial  seclusion  of  religion.  As  a  result,  the  two 
must  be  brought  into  intimate  cooperation  once 
more,  if  further  advance  is  to  ensue.  The  growth 
of  insanity  and  suicide,  the  awful  ravages  of  alcohol- 
ism, the  grave  failure  of  the  most  energetic  classes 
to  reproduce  themselves  in  due  proportion,  the 
diffused  individualism  and  materialism,  together 
with  similar  phenomena,  indicate  some  practices 
within  the  polity  discrepant  from  the  ideals  of  the 
religion.  So,  too,  many  professing  Christians  are 
satisfied  to  govern  themselves  by  '  legal '  conscience. 
They  apply  one  standard  in  business,  another  in 
the  charmed  circle  of  '  the  four  hundred,'  another  in 
political  '  deals,'  and  guide  the  great  body  of  their 
ordinary  practice  thus.  Yet  they  know  a  different 
rule  in  the  church  —  alas,  too  often  theoretically. 
Differentiation  within  the  polity  renders  them  tol- 
erant of  smooth  blackguards,  of  agreeable  gamblers, 
of   mannerly   sensualists,  of  public  trustees  whose 


^T,8    MODERN   THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

official  career  is  a  lie,  the  blacker  for  copious  white- 
wash. Still,  on  the  other  hand,  without  the  polity  the 
religion  can  effect  nothing.  The  Gospel  is  to  the 
world  surely.  We  need  to  translate  '  Christian  truth' 
into  the  language  and  deeds  of  daily  life,  in  order  that 
its  salving  influence  may  pervade  the  community. 
A  religion  effective  from  Monday  to  Saturday  will 
speedily  expose  the  hollowness  of  a  religion  paraded 
on  Sunday.  Christianity  faces  a  new  task  in  relation 
to  contemporary  civilization,  and  needs  must  adapt 
itself  to  an  unprecedented  combination  of  circum- 
stances. To  renew  the  polity,  it  cannot  avoid  self- 
renewal  in  some  shape.  It  is  no  static  system,  but 
an  active  process  capable  of  endless  recuperation. 
Either  this  or  its  efficacy  belongs  already  with  the 
past  —  not  done  away,  indeed,  but  laid  up  in  a 
napkin,  like  a  venerated  fetich,  to  work  miracles 
on  call. 

Now,  if  our  religion  must  express  itself  in  a  polity, 
how  can  it  retain  its  '  absoluteness '  ?  On  one  con- 
dition only:  given  a  functional  activity  necessary 
to  the  super  individual  existence  of  the  polity,  and 
performed  by  religion.  Doubtless,  the  subject  is 
obscure  and  difficult;  in  addition,  students  have 
not  probed  it  to  the  bottom  so  far.  Accordingly, 
I   confine  myself    to    a    few    hints.     As    we    have 


THE    VALLEY    OF   BLESSING  339 

attempted  to  see,  Christianity  stresses  a  universal 
factor  in  individual  men.  But,  even  as  subjects  of 
this  universalism,  they  live  in  human  societies  which, 
again,  bestow  on  them  a  secondary  universalism 
variable  from  organization  to  organization.  As  a 
rule  this  political  enlargement  takes  the  shape  of 
national  or  imperial  pride.  Here  religion  and 
polity  touch.  The  former  insists  upon  what  I  shall 
call  the  '  person.'  No  one  rises  to  the  distinctive 
level  of  personality  till  he  betrays  the  presence  of 
some  power  greater  than  self.  His  consciousness 
gives  access  to  the  play  of  a  transitive  force  that  at 
once  enlarges  and  dissolves  the  separate,  self-regard- 
ing ego.  Thus  man  releases  a  loftier  experience, 
that  betokens  motivation  by  an  operative  spirit 
absent  in  his  unregenerate  days.  Or,  to  state  the 
case  in  terms  redolent  of  piety :  "Happy  is  he  whom 
truth  by  itself  doth  teach,  not  by  figures  and  words 
that  pass  away,  but  as  it  is  in  itself."  Taught  thus, 
a  human  life  receives  consecration  as  a  new  outlet 
for  the  manifestation  of  spiritual  efficacy.  It  ceases 
to  be  a  means,  and  ranks  as  an  end  —  for  the  sake 
of  the  vital  message  it  conveys.  Accordingly,  reli- 
gion would  conserve  the  individual  on  account  of 
the  superindividual  in  him.  It  would  save  him, 
because  he  is  a  '  person '  or  may  come  to  be  one. 


340     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

Polity,  on  the  other  hand,  would  conserve  the  indi- 
vidual in  relation  to  sociomorphism.  It  would  value 
him  as  a  means  to  the  preservation  of  its  character- 
istics which,  after  their  kind,  are  also  greater  than 
himself.  Religion  struggles  for  the  '  person,'  polity 
requires  the  individual  to  struggle  for  it.  In  the  one 
case,  man  reigns  as  the  agent  of  universalism,  in  the 
other,  he  serves  as  its  patient.  Notice,  both  con- 
centrate upon  his  psychical  enlargement,  but  reli- 
gion unconditionally,  polity  conditionally.  Religion 
treats  the '  person'  as  a  perfectible  whole,  polity  would 
use  the  socialized  individual  as  a  relative  part. 

The  two  agree,  then,  in  a  common  tendency  to 
universalize  individuals.  Further,  religion  cannot 
dissociate  itself  from  the  circumstances  characteris- 
tic of  a  polity.  So  it  would  seem  that,  if  Christianity 
is  to  retain  its  'absoluteness,'  it  must  perform  the  func- 
tion of  transforming  the  '  absoluteness  '  of  the  polity 
in  such  a  way  as  to  show  that  it  also  subserves  the 
'person'  as  an  end.  In  other  words,  it  has  to  operate 
so  as  to  indicate  that,  just  as  the  individual  may  be 
rendered  a  vehicle  of  the  universal,  and  be  thus  multi- 
plied into  personality,  the  polity,  even  in  its  super- 
individualism,  may  be  widened  in  like  manner. 
Religion  can  safeguard  its  peculiar  universalism 
only  if  it  energize  as  a  vital  power  permeating  the 


THE    VALLEY    OF    BLESSING  34I 

polity  throughout,  and  effecting  tangible  results 
which,  otherwise,  the  polity  could  not  achieve  of  itself. 
The  metahistorical  unity,  common  to  religion  and  to 
polity,  attains  clear  manifestation  in  this  way,  and 
in  no  other.  For  instance,  as  a  matter  of  record, 
Christianity  produced  modern  civilization  in  the 
Occident.  It  functioned  so  that  the  polity  felt  the 
presence  of  a  spiritual  momentum  such  as  could  be 
generated  only  within  an  integrated  society.  Yet 
the  society  was  elevated  above  its  kind  by  partici- 
pation in  the  religious  idealism.  For  a  polity  is  of 
one  blood  with  its  diverse  members  in  this  respect,  — 
it  can  support  its  temporary  ills,  frequent  disappoint- 
ments, and  constant  strains,  if  it  sense  responsibility 
to  something  immeasurably  more  august  than  itself. 
Religion  secures  compliance  with  this  condition.  The 
polity  changes  chameleon-like.  But  religion  stands 
firm  witness  to  the  metahistorical  unity,  no  matter 
how  it  may  alter  the  ceonic  means  whereby  acute 
need  for  God  is  brought  home  to  the  'secular' 
group.  Thus,  in  so  far  as  any  polity  holds  power 
to  perdure  through  time  and  chance,  it  has  already 
become  a  religious  organization.  And,  in  relation 
to  it,  the  function  of  religion  is  precisely  to  arouse 
consciousness  of  this  truth,  and  to  keep  it  lively. 
Need  I  add  that,  for  our  own  civilization  at  least, 


342     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

we  have  no  choice ;  the  purpose  must  be  effected  by 
Christianity,  if  at  all.  Hence  its  '  absoluteness.' 
Moreover,  as  it  fills  its  function,  it  awakens  our 
responsibility  to  other  civilizations,  by  their  very 
nature  petitioners  for  the  same  universalism. 

But,  some  one  will  say,  '  the  facts  of  political  and 
social  life  seem  to  prove  that  a  polity  is  quite  sec- 
ular, that,  on  the  slightest  pretext,  it  apostatizes 
easily,  nay,  completely.  Christian  peoples,  several 
of  them,  worship  force  openly.  Indeed,  they  hold 
might  for  right,  although  they  may  hesitate  to  make 
the  ugly  confession  with  their  lips.  Again,  many  of 
the  '  directing  classes,'  mainstays  of  the  church, 
serve  Mammon  obsequiously.  In  a  word,  thanks  to 
your  polity,  Christianity  seems  to  have  gone  to  the 
wall.'  True,  but  not  true  enough.  We  must  pause 
to  ask  a  question.  What  do  these  vexatious  develop- 
ments betoken?  No  more  than  this:  the  polity, 
thanks  to  the  severe  pressure  that  overtakes  all  such 
arrangements  from  time  to  time,  has  sacrificed  its 
best  ideals  for  the  sake  of  immediate  satisfaction, 
or  momentary  advantage.  Those  who  worship 
Might  shall  die  by  Might  —  or  reform,  lest  this  evil 
befall  them.  Those  who  worship  Mammon  shall 
succumb  to  his  canker,  or  repudiate  him,  if  they 
would  escape.     Signs  of  these  very   consequences 


THE    VALLEY    OF    BLESSING  343 

already  so  multiply  and  alarm  that  we  are  prone  to 
declare,  'Occidental  civilization  is  at  the  cross-roads.' 
Now,  if  religion  function  as  I  have  attempted  to 
show,  it  alone  holds  virtue  to  restore  that  essence 
of  the  larger  life  which  the  polity  has  bartered, 
misled  by  false  values.  We  must  always  remember 
that  Might  and  Mammon  are  worshipped  just  in 
so  far  as  they  can  be  spiritualized.  Man  never 
bows  the  knee  to  them,  but  to  the  permanent  expan- 
sion of  self  —  the  benison  of  superindividuality  — 
which,  as  he  fondly  supposes,  they  are  able  to  bestow. 
The  devil  makes  an  invariable  appeal,  he  lacks 
originality  entirely.  It  is  ever,  "All  these  things 
will  I  give  thee,  —  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and 
the  glory  of  them."  Not  the  relative  values  of 
Might  and  Mammon,  but  the  absolute  value,  in 
relation  to  self,  of  the  things  they  offer,  elicits  human 
allegiance.  Accordingly,  the  clamant  business  of 
Christianity  becomes  quite  apparent.  It  must 
unveil  anew,  even  to  seventy  times  seven,  those 
higher  reaches  of  enlargement,  those  sources  of 
transfiguration  from  individual  to  'person,'  whence 
alone  permanent  elevation  issues.  Granted  that, 
in  the  nature  of  the  case,  polity  strays  into  devious 
paths,  follows  divisive  courses,  the  more  need  for 
Christianity  to  divine  its  real  end,  and  this  under  the 


344     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS    IN    BELIEF 

darkest  clouds  that  shadow  any  moment.  Even  in 
its  Ca?sarism  and  Mammonism,  the  poh'ty  worships 
—  it  turns  to  an  'oversoul '  in  some  sort,  and  detects 
vaguely  its  birth  from  'another  world.'  Imperfect 
absolutism  of  this  kind  can  be  exorcised  only  through 
the  true  absolutism  of  religion.  Christianity  must 
open  the  eyes  of  'commercialism,'  and  its  numerous 
kin,  so  that  they  may  perceive  the  actual  source  of 
the  stability  that  guarantees  them  their  temjx)rary 
triumphs. 

The  jx)wer  of  expansion  characteristic  of  modern 
society  comes  from  man's  ability  to  universalize 
self.  To  reveal  this  in  its  ultimate  nature  is  the 
splendid  task  of  religion,  ever  old,  yet  ever  new.  For, 
as  the  ends  whereto  {X)lity  makes  individuals  the 
means  ditTer  from  generation  to  generation,  so  too 
Christianity  must  needs  originate  fresh  methods  to 
enforce  the  right  of  the  individual  to  end  as  a  *  person.' 
It  will  preach  subordination  of  group-ideals  to  ideal 
manhood,  it  will  set  forth  the  still  larger  life,  by 
showing  that  adequate  personalism  depends  upon 
intimatecommunion,in  complete  sincerity  of  purpose, 
with  the  Spirit  of  Perfection  whence  group-ideals 
also  obtain  any  significance  they  possess.  Amid 
the  distractions  of  time  and  sense,  many  miss  the 
truth  that  heroism  lies,  not  in  worldly  might,  or  in 


THE    VALLEY   OF   BLESSING  345 

crowding  goods,  but  in  the  stern  battle  with  self-will, 
won  only  when  self  has  disappeared,  to  return  with 
its  solemn  experiences  worked  out  "as  ever  under 
the  great  Taskmaster's  eye."  If,  as  Fontenelle 
said,  "our  fathers  made  the  mistake  of  hoarding  up 
errors  for  our  benefit,"  the  reason  is  evident.  They 
forgot  the  true  universal,  in  devotion  to  particular  and 
momentary  aims.  And  we  are  equally  liable  to  the 
same  mischance,  unless  Christianity  clear  our  vision 
so  that  it  may  penetrate  to  the  essential  being  of  our 
kind.  Its  plain  mission,  then,  —  and  this  within 
the  polity,  —  is  to  suffuse  the  secular  'absolute'  with 
the  ennobling  glow  of  the  eternal,  that  all  dross  may 
be  refined  away.  In  other  words,  the  polity  —  ours, 
or  the  Asiatics',  or  what  not  —  affords  another,  and 
greater,  opportunity  to  the  religion.  The  momentous 
issues  with  which  Christianity  still  teems  relate,  not 
merely  to  the  conversion  of  individuals,  but  to  the 
regeneration  of  cultures.  These  things  seen  and 
temporal,  just  because  they  fill  so  huge  a  stage,  call 
for  more  adequate  'absolutism'  than  we  have 
realized  hitherto.  So  be  we  are  faithful  to  the 
gigantic  trust,  Christ  begins  His  larger  mission  — 
the  polity  of  to-day  exacts  more  than  ever  from  Him. 
To  conquer,  'Christian  truth'  must  be  proven  truth 
by  us  more  thoroughly  than  by  our  predecessors  of 


346     MODERN   THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

olden  time.  For,  as  a  polity  grows  more  complex, 
it  tends  to  disperse  the  solidarity  essential  to  its 
well-being,  in  a  mass  of  competing  group  or 
individual  interests.  This  happens  to  be  the  grave 
disease  of  Western  civilization  now.  On  Christianity 
devolves  the  duty  of  restoring  the  broken  unity,  by 
its  regenerating  universalism.  Only  thus  will  the 
polity  develop  those  superindividual  sanctions, 
incarnate  by  transitive  personalities  serving  the 
ideal,  that  give  it  internal  worth  sufficient  to  lead  its 
members  to  go  to  the  death  for  it,  if  need  be,  and  this 
gladly.  Now,  as  of  yore,  if  "there  be  fifty  righteous 
within  the  city,"  or  "  peradventure  ten,"  the  Lord 
will  "spare  the  place."  For  by  these  independent 
instruments,  the  operation  of  the  eternal,  salving 
ideal  is  assured,  despite  any  depth  of  iniquity.  No 
polity  ever  lasted  in  which  some  did  not  live  to  God ; 
and  if  some,  why  not  all,  by  their  example  in  word 
and  work? 

We  have  every  reason,  then,  to  anticipate  great 
changes  within  Christianity,  because  polity  is  in 
process  of  such  profound  alteration.  The  strain 
of  society  grows  tenser  and,  with  it,  the  temptation 
to  treat  the  individual  as  a  helpless  means.  Conse- 
quently, one  must  expect  religion  to  invoke  new 
powers   calculated  to   convince  latter-day   men  of 


THE    VALLEY    OF    BLESSING  347 

the  value  of  life,  as  in  every  case  consecrated  by  the 
indwelling  of  the  eternal.  The  polity  demands 
sacrifice,  and  useless  sacrifice  apparently,  more  and 
more.  If  this  subordination  of  the  individual  to  a 
temporary,  and  therefore  imperfect,  universal  can- 
not be  justified  by  the  spiritualization  of  the  'secular' 
group,  then  dissolution  is  as  certain  as  sunrise.  In 
the  circumstances,  the  necessity  for  renewed  and 
renewing  development  within  Christianity  becomes 
entirely  obvious. 

Is  a  permanent  expansion  of  polity  possible,  under 
the  so-called  '  law  '  of  evolution,  except  on  a  funda- 
mental basis  of  religious  idealism?  Sociological 
science  leads  us  to  conclude  that  it  is  in  the  highest 
degree  unlikely.  Even  the  founder  of  Positivism 
voiced  this  view  with  perfect  candour.  For,  the 
pervasive  unity,  essential  to  the  process  ('  the 
eternal  arms'  that  support,  as  religion  would  phrase 
it),  underlies  mere  separate  individuals,  and  provides 
supersocial  supports.  If  we  are  nonplussed  to-day, 
it  is  because,  lost  amid  a  multitude  of  minor  interests, 
we  lose  sight  of  this.  Talleyrand  was  right  when, 
consulted  by  Larevellfere-Lepeaux  about  a  remedy 
for  the  inefficiency  of  sugar- water  'ethical  culture,' 
he  replied:  "There  is  one  plan  you  might  at  least 
try.     I  should  recommend  you  to  be  crucified  and  to 


348     MODERN   THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

rise  again  the  third  day."  Yes,  the  settings  of 
civilization  change,  but  human  need  of  communion 
with  an  'absolute'  remains  essentially  the  same. 
And,  for  this,  Christianity  must  continue  to  provide, 
though  with  marked  difference  of  emphasis,  suited  to 
the  possibilities  of  assimilation.  In  brief,  the  details 
of  life  in  a  polity  might  well  drive  one  to  despair; 
nevertheless,  man's  staying  power,  that  transmutes 
these  details  into  significant  and  authoritative 
reality,  evinces  supersocial  traits,  shot  forth  from  an 
upper  dimension  alone  productive  of  thoroughgoing 
devotion.  To  unify  the  two,  as  need  arises,  con- 
stitutes the  mission  and  the  justification  of  religion  — 
for  us,  Christianity.  For  the  polity  can  be  saved  only 
by  defensible  belief  in  self  —  and  this  never  existed 
without  belief  in  "a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends." 
Religion  elicits  and  instils  the  loyalty  without  which 
human  experience,  even  in  the  superindividual 
realm  of  a  polity,  crumbles  into  transiency.  Here 
we  labour  in  the  valley  of  blessing.  The  play  of 
comedy  in  tragedy,  the  load  of  tragedy  in  comedy, 
intimate  no  less. 

The  theoretical  question,  Is  the  'absolute' 
element  in  Christianity  in  such  process  of  change 
that  it  may  be  overpassed  some  day  ?  would  carry 
us  far  afield.      If  we  can  only  see  why  it  should  be 


THE    VALLEY    OF    BLESSING  349 

asked,  we  shall  have  done  something.  On  the  face 
of  it,  the  enquiry  states  a  paradox,  one  that  emerges 
from  the  paradoxical  character  of  self-consciousness. 
Everybody  admits  that  self-consciousness  compasses 
but  a  fragment  of  ultimate  truth  as  a  whole.  Yet, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  ask  helplessly.  Where  else  shall 
we  look  for  this  very  truth  ?  The  microcosm  of  the 
universe,  as  reflected  back  by  our  experience,  cannot 
be  devoid  of  all  reality  in  the  last  resort,  so  far  as  we 
are  concerned.  Something  in  self  laughs  at  change, 
or  the  bare  notion  of  unity  becomes  illusory.  Never- 
theless, "change  and  decay  in  all  around  I  see,"  not 
least  in  self.  Accordingly,  the  single  solution  would 
seem  to  be  that,  by  the  changes  through  which  self 
passes,  its  inner  unity  reaches  working  immut- 
ability in  measure.  The  old  self,  that  seemed  'ab- 
solute,' finds  itself  overpassed  in  a  new  development, 
identical  in  nature,  notwithstanding  the  interference 
of  the  process.  The  personal  relations  constitutive 
of  originating  manhood  never  alter  their  texture,  if 
we  have  but  skill  to  pierce  their  temporary  envelope. 
Still,  in  expression,  defect  always  seals  or  modifies 
them  from  period  to  period,  and  so  they  cannot  but 
overpass  this  or  that  degree  eventually.  So,  if  the 
unity  of  God,  unsullied  by  imperfection,  fails  of 
identity  with  any  particular  apparition  of  selfhood  it 


350    MODERN  THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

results,  therefore,  that  the  indwelling  of  this  unity 
with  our  souls,  as  it  proceeds  from  less  to  more, 
must  involve  the  possibility  at  least  of  such  restate- 
ment of  the  Christian  '  absolute '  that  it  may  overpass 
itself,  and  still  preserve  its  synthetic  touch  unim- 
paired. A  human  revelation,  or  none,  is  practicable 
among  men.  Thus,  the  revelation  may  be  stable, 
on  the  side  of  the  ultimate  power  implied,  and 
transitional  in  its  human  media.  It  would  savour 
of  impiety,  for  example,  to  attribute  virtue  to  God ; 
virtue  ensues  upon  sin  overcome.  Yet  sin  plays  an 
important  part  in  Christianity,  particularly  in  its 
conception  of  the  relation  between  God  and  man. 
And  theologians  have  often  presented  it  as  if  it  bore 
specifically  upon  actual  alteration  within  the  Divine 
nature.  Now,  this  intimates  no  more  than  the  double 
character  of  ordinary  life.  Blessed  though  we  be,  we 
still  abide  the  question  in  the  valley.  Hence  the  par- 
adoxical problem  before  us  teems  with  possibilities,  be- 
cause, in  the  unavoidable  circumstances,  ambiguity 
besets  Christianity.  A  couple  of  illustrations  may  suf- 
fice to  show  why,  and  to  close  our  discussion.  Neces- 
sarily, they  are  selected  from  theology.  For,  after 
all,  the  paradox  deals  with  Christianity  as  formulated, 
that  is,  as  ambiguous.  There  are  Roman,  Anglican, 
Lutheran,  Reformed,  Unitarian,  and  other  theologies, 


THE    VALLEY    OF    BLESSING  35 1 

for  the  reason  that  this  or  the  other  facet  of  religion 
may  cease  to  shine,  or  may  be  the  single  luminous 
point. 

As  we  are  discussing  the  '  absoluteness '  of  '  Chris- 
tian truth,'  suppose  we  select  the  doctrine  of  God  as 
.our  first  example.  All  believers  will  assent  to  the 
great  Johannine  declaration :  "  God  is  a  spirit : 
and  they  that  worship  him  must  worship  him  in 
spirit  and  in  truth."  *  But,  then,  no  spirit  exists 
without  process,  and  process  never  occurs  in  vacuo. 
So,  one  part  of  the  environment  wherein  the  process 
proceeds  may  be,  often  is,  mistaken  for  the  whole. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  self-poised  oneness  of  God 
has  shut  out  other  coordinate  revelations  frequently. 
But  with  little  warrant  from  the  Master.  In  the 
most  wonderful  of  the  many  wonderful  passages 
containing  the  charter  of  Christianity,"  John  makes 
Jesus  teach  the  disciples  how  they,  as  men  in  a 
world  of  men,  may  escape  this  error.  "Neverthe- 
less I  tell  you  the  truth;  It  is  expedient  for  you 
that  I  go  away :  for  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Com- 
forter will  not  come  unto  you ;  but  if  I  depart, 
I  will  send  him  unto  you.  ...  I  have  yet  many 
things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear  them 
now.  Howbeit  when  he,  the  Spirit  of  truth  is  come, 
he  will  guide  you  into  all  truth."  ^    The  temporary 

'  John  iv.  24.         ^  John  xiv-xvii.        ^  John  xvi.  7,  12-13. 


352     MODERN    THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS    IN   BELIEF 

theophany,  because  in  a  human  being,  must  needs 
pass,  to  be  succeeded  by  a  permanent  and  ubiqui- 
tous presence.  For  those  who  have  not  seen,  as 
Jesus  reahzes,  the  reahty  of  the  Godhead  will  con- 
tinue to  persist  through  the  unbroken  activity  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Accordingly,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say 
that,  when  we  have  plumbed  these  marvellous  in- 
sights to  their  depths,  we  may  read  our  own  situation 
in  a  new  light.  Here  below,  in  our  stage  and  state, 
the  effective  presence,  wherein  Father  and  Son  alike 
may  be  discerned,  and  known  concretely,  belongs  to 
"the  Lord  and  Giver  of  Life."  Moreover,  the  re- 
sultant supersession  of  many  conventional  doctrines 
about  God  may  prove  a  necessary  accompaniment  of 
our  transformed  knowledge  of  self  and  the  universe. 
Nay,  it  may  be  indispensable  as  a  development  pari 
passu  with  our  growing  appreciation  of  the  structure 
and  function  of  human  society.  In  any  event,  we 
begin  to  cross-examine  ourselves  afresh  concerning  the 
society  called  the  church.  And  we  may  well  ask.  Is 
a  vital  conception  of  the  church  attainable  apart  from 
such  a  view  of  the  office  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  I  have 
indicated?  As  a  churchman,  I  understand  my  soci- 
ety to  be  the  superindividual  community  enlivened 
by  the  constant  intercourse  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Fur- 
ther, I  am  unable  to  see  that,  under  other  conditions, 


THE    VALLEY    OF    BLESSING  353 

we  are  justified  in  regarding  it  as  the  peculiar  organ 
of  religion.  If  its  existence  mean  anything,  it  is 
this  —  that  in  it  God  is  known  of  Himself.  So  far 
as  broken  human  experience  judges,  superindividual 
power  can  appear  only  in  relations  of  persons ;  and 
they  achieve  personality,  as  we  have  seen,  precisely 
by  the  transitive  touch  of  that  Eternal  wherein, 
fairly  enough,  we  may  avow  the  Holy  Spirit.  But, 
then,  this  superindividual  power  attains  its  purest 
tension  in  a  communal  whole.  "I  am  glorified  in 
them.'"  Consequently,  God,  as  the  Holy  Spirit, 
becomes  the  'absolute,'  not  merely  for  us,  but  with  us. 
Dominated,  as  we  are,  by  the  idea  of  development, 
it  is  not  enough  that  we  sense  the  superindividual 
in  self ;  we  seek  it  also,  and  more  richly,  in  the  super- 
social,  whereby  a  man  is  fortified  unto  the  larger 
life.  And  this  manifestation  the  church,  as  the 
subject  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  ought  to  offer  in  unex- 
ampled degree.  The  greatest  thinker  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  understood  the  position  clearly: 
"finite  consciousness  knows  God  only  to  the  ex- 
tent to  which  God  knows  Himself  in  it ;  thus  God 
is  Spirit,  the  Spirit  of  His  Church  in  fact,  that  is, 
of  those  who  worship  Him."  * 

Thus,  while  conserving  the  '  absolute '  in  principle, 

'  Philosophy  0/  Religion,  Hegel,  vol.  ii,  p.  327  (Eng.  trans.). 
2  A 


354     MODERN  THOUGHT  AND  THE   CRISIS   IN   BELIEF 

it  is  quite  possible  that  Christianity,  quickened,  as 
it  must  be,  by  the  latest  demands  of  Christian  men, 
may  overpass  its  venerable  dogmas  of  the  static, 
transcendent  nature  of  Deity,  and  concentrate  its 
insistence  upon  the  operative  process  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  through  the  church,  for  the  world.  In  this 
sense,  it  would  liberate  itself  from  a  transient  meth- 
odism,  and  proceed,  as  by  a  fresh  burst  of  inspira- 
tion, to  tell  our  epoch  all  things  that  ever  it  did. 
And  many  events  are  less  likely  than  the  establish- 
ment of  'Christian  truth'  on  this  wise. 

Coming,  now,  to  our  second  example,  it  is  not 
impossible  that  our  intellectual  explanations  of  the 
immediate  appearance  of  God  in  Jesus  may  be  over- 
passed. Jesus  was  a  man,  born  of  the  flesh  under 
the  law,  and  therefore  finite  in  the  same  way  as  his 
brethren.  He  was  subject  to  all  physical  necessities, 
and  had  human  character  no  less  than  human  frame. 
Hence,  one  of  the  ambiguities  of  Christianity  attaches 
to  the  view,  not  uncommon  in  Christendom,  that  this 
particular  finite  contained  the  "whole  fulness  of  the 
Godhead  bodily."  No  doubt,  the  reason  for  such 
an  interpretation  is  not  far  to  seek.  Ordinary  un- 
derstanding, or  common-sense,  always  leans  upon 
the  sensuous.  Nay,  some  peoples,  of  eminent 
influence  in  the  development  of  Christian  thought. 


THE    VALLEY    OF    BLESSING  355 

have  been  unable  to  rise  above  it,  all  in  all.  For 
example,  it  masters  most  Roman  and  Anglican 
reflexion.  Now,  thanks  just  to  its  sensuous  basis, 
common-sense  misses  the  implications  of  God-man- 
hood, by  confining  its  attention  to  a  single  individual, 
as  if  this  being,  by  some  strange  freak,  alone  enjoyed 
communion  with  the  Eternal.  It  fails  to  observe  that 
such  a  conclusion  knocks  the  bottom  out  of  religion. 
Jesus  fell  a  victim  to  no  such  deception.  He  lived 
to  do  the  Father's  will.  He  manifested  God  to  the 
utmost  possible  with  men.  For  our  sakes  he  became 
poor,  and  therefore  drank  the  cup  of  sense  to  the  lees. 
As  a  human  experient,  he  served  himself  an  incar- 
nation of  one  type  of  the  divine  process  —  the  most 
real  for  us,  be  it  said.  Nevertheless,  he  was  no 
statesman,  or  philosopher,  or  naturalist,  or  poet,  or 
artist.  These  types  of  revelation  must  be  sought 
elsewhere.  Yet,  he  gave  the  decisive  answer  to  the 
riddle  of  existence,  not  from  God's,  but  from  man's 
side.  It  was  essential  that  the  problem  of  the  prac- 
ticable union  between  men  and  the  Eternal  should 
be  made  plain.  In  other  words,  stereotyped  theories 
may  be  overpassed,  if  the  stress  of  the  Christian 
incarnation  be  shifted  from  the  divine  to  the  human 
factor.  For  our  religion  contains  other  truths,  and, 
consequently,  there  is  an  obvious  sense  in  which, 


356    MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

on  some  readings  of  it,  the  incarnation  may  become 
a  half  truth.  For,  in  Jesus,  it  was  limited  to  time 
and  place.  That  is,  Jesus  came  to  show,  by  his  faith- 
fulness to  death,  what  Christ  might  be.  His  person 
is  unique,  but  so  are  all  other  persons.  When  it  had 
passed  away,  and  not  till  then,  believers  were  able 
to  refine  the  humane  element,  and  seize  upon  the 
essential  idea,  which  remains,  as  Christ,  to  witness 
the  life  eternal. 

To  state  the  process  —  for  it  is  a  process  —  other- 
wise. You  fathom  Jesus  just  in  proportion  as  you 
discern  in  him  a  normal  and  not  an  abnormal 
(thaumaturgic  or  pagan)  apparition  of  the  Eternal 
in  human  nature.  He  preferred  no  claim  to  stand 
in  place  of  God.  This  broke  forth,  and  inevitably, 
from  the  awakened  consciousness  of  the  disciples. 
In  like  manner,  we  contemporary  disciples,  through 
whom  Christianity  energizes  now,  derive  the  God- 
ideal  from  him.  Jesus  homo  has  long  given  place 
to  Jesus  salvator  —  Christ.  Our  need  'proves'  the 
divinity  of  Christ,  for  our  devotion,  according  to  its 
ratio,  evaporates  the  accidental  and  physical,  leav- 
ing only  the  Divine  Person.  The  adaptation  of 
Christianity  to  man's  necessity,  and  not  the  static 
unchangeable  character  of  a  Syrian  peasant,  embodies 
the  benison.     In  Christ,  human  nature  descries  the 


THE    VALLEY    OF    BLESSING  357 

way  wherein  it  may  walk,  so  transcending  its  own 
frailties  as  to  arrive  at  renewed  unity  with  the  God 
Whom  the  world  had  lost  nigh  irrevocably. 

Thus  Christianity  preserves  its  'absoluteness'  in 
the  sense  that  it  remains  impervious  to  attacks  from 
without.  And,  if  we  could  but  realize  the  liberty 
wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free,  we  would  under- 
stand that  there  are  no  such  things  as  attacks  from 
within.  For  the  complete  truth  of  religion  issues 
from  its  devotees,  each  building  his  little  bit  of  the 
opulent  whole  according  to  his  God-given  power,  or 
purity,  or  mental  sweep.  They  keep  it  in  process  of 
constant  enrichment  and,  on  the  contrary,  such  are 
their  responsibilities,  reduce  it  on  occasion  to  the 
level  of  uninspired,  even  repellent,  prose.  On  this 
wise  it  partakes  of  that  change  without  which  the 
vital  presence  of  operative  spiritual  reality  sinks  to  a 
flatulent  verbalism.  Be  sure,  'Christian  truth'  en- 
visages a  career,  does  not  dictate  a  logical  judge- 
ment. Accordingly,  from  generation  to  generation, 
this  or  that  feature  of  the  life  glows  in  high  light, 
while  other  traits  lie  in  shadow  —  mayhap  because 
they  are  overpassed.  As  Hegel  saw,  we  must  rise 
beyond  knowledge  to  faith.  "If  we  say  nothing 
more  of  Christ  than  that  He  was  a  teacher  of  hu- 
manity, a  martyr  for  the  truth,  we  do  not  occupy 


358     MODERN   THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

the  Christian  standpoint,  the  standpoint  of  true 
religion."  ^  Thus,  paradoxically,  it  boots  nothing 
to  assert  the  exclusive  presence  of  God  in  this  or 
that  man.  "The  teaching  of  Christ  taken  by  itself 
belongs  to  the  world  of  ordinary  figurative  ideas  only, 
and  takes  to  do  with  the  inner  feeling  and  disposi- 
tion ;  it  is  supplemented  by  the  representation  of  the 
Divine  Idea  in  His  life  and  fate."  ^  So,  the  static 
conception  is  left  behind  when  we  detect  the  eternal 
Christ  in  the  man  Jesus.  The  cross  is  the  baptism 
of  human  consciousness  into  Christ.  For  those 
who  have  not  seen,  there  is  no  Epiphany  without 
Easter.  We  overpass  the  historical  accidents  and, 
piercing  to  the  'absolute'  that  makes  them  possible, 
retain  it  as  'absolute,'  no  matter  in  what  fashion 
our  historical  accidents  may  persuade  us  to  represent 
it  most  effectually  to  our  hearts.  The  blessing  abides 
one,  but  ever  amid  the  chances  of  the  valley. 

But  all  this  brings  us  back  full  circle  to  the  point 
of  departure  in  the  Introductory  Lecture.  There 
are  intellectual  constructions  of  belief  necessary  to 
'Christian  truth,'  and  they  alter  with  the  flight  of 

*  Philosophy  of  Religion,  vol.  iii,  pp.  77-78  (Eng.  trans.). 
^  Philosophy  0/  Religion,  Hegel,  vol.  iii,  p.  85  (Eng.  trans.).    The 
italics  are  mine. 


THE    VALLEY    OF    BLESSING  359 

years.  For  instance,  the  clamant  question  to-day 
is  not,  What  shall  /  do  to  be  saved?  The  'other 
world'  keeps  too  closely  with  us  for  this.  Modern 
thought  refuses  to  endure  a  dual  universe;  Spirit 
is  unseen  Nature,  Nature  is  unseen  Spirit.  In  our 
present  condition,  we  rather  ask,  What  is  the  perfect 
society?  And,  to  answer  it,  admitting  the  funda- 
mental postulates  of  religion  as  I  have  tried  to  sketch 
them,  we  cannot  but  travel  beyond  ancient  tran- 
scripts, which  become  religious  dangers  when  they 
erect  barriers  to  every  movement.  But  we  fare  forth 
thus  in  order  to  obtain  closer  walk  with  God.  Christ 
rules,  not  the  past,  but  our  future,  if  we  will  to  become, 
after  our  clearest  vision,  as  He  would  have  us  be. 
It  avails  naught  to  imitate  bygone  thinkers,  or  even 
saints.  The  message  gushes  from  our  inward  con- 
sciousness, to  receive  heed  from  us  as  we  veritably 
are,  or  keeps  the  dead,  decent  level  of  a  tale  that  is 
told.  The  cheering  assurance,  given  by  one  of  the 
several  New  Testament  prophets  who  seemed  to 
foresee  our  straits,  possesses  authority  as  pertinent 
to  the  twentieth  century  as  to  the  distant  day  when 
it  was  set  down  first.  "  And  all  these,  having  ob- 
tained a  good  report  through  faith,  received  not  the 
promise:  God  having  provided  some  better  thing 
for  us,  tJiat  they  without  us  should  not  be  made 


360     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE    CRISIS    IN    BELIEF 

perfect."  ^  Life  eternal  is  a  present  state,  ours  to 
take  or  leave.  As  Christians,  we  gain  this  certainty 
by  adoption  into  Christ,  Who  has  proven  that  self, 
in  its  ultimate  reality,  enjoys  free  course  only  when 
the  Eternal  power  functioning  within  it  transforms 
every  fibre  of  its  being.  But,  reverently  be  it  said, 
even  the  Eternal  can  accomplish  nothing  unless  we 
meet  it  more  than  halfwa,y. 

Seen  through  the  prism  of  intellect,  as  the  tran- 
sient generations  must  see  it,  '  Christian  truth '  yet 
remains  one  in  whiteness  of  simplicity.  "  I  in  them, 
and  thou  in  me,  that  they  may  be  made  perfect  in 
one."  ^  That  is  all !  And,  because  all,  capable  of 
endless  restatement,  of  multitudinous  application. 
We  support  life  in  the  Valley  of  Blessing,  or  curse 
it  in  the  Valley  of  Hinnom,  where  the  fair  palm 
trees  mark  the  smoke  ascending  from  the  door  of 
Gehenna.^  Like  other  Christians,  I  cannot  'prove' 
these  things,  any  more  than  I  can  'prove'  my  own 
existence.  But  I  am  able  to  say  humbly,  /  know. 
I  am  saluted  by  the  discordant  shouts  of  the  old, 
old  quarrel  between  the  'head'  and  the  'heart,'  a 
duel  destined  to  last  with  the  human  race.  But 
the  two  could  not  disagree  unless  they  belonged 

*  Hebrews  xi.  39,  40.  ^  John  xvii.  23. 

^  Cf.  City  of  the  Great  King,  Barclay,  p.  90. 


THE    VALLEY    OF    BLESSING  36 1 

together.  Patience  with  the  plea  of  each  alone  will 
set  the  door  of  truth  ajar.  For  neither  has  reason 
to  say  to  the  other,  "I  have  no  need  of  thee." 
Thought,  without  emotion,  never  accomplished 
anything  permanent;  emotion,  without  thought, 
never  escaped  the  young  folly  of  self-love.  Slight 
either,  and  you  seek  trouble;  give  heed  to  both, 
and,  happily,  you  may  begin  to  perceive  that  they 
prefer  equal  title  to  membership  in  an  ampler  whole. 
So,  in  these  Lectures,  I  have  let  the  'head'  pursue 
its  own  course  to  the  bitter  end,  only  to  find  that, 
whatever  the  end,  the  'heart'  refuses  to  rest  satisfied. 
For  religion  happens  to  be  one  thing,  thought  about 
religion  a  vastly  different  affair.  Yet  we  are  com- 
pelled to  think  about  belief.  Indeed,  the  practical 
character  of  Christianity  requires  to  be  brought 
home  by  some  species  of  reflexion.  Practice  '  proves ' 
truth,  but  practice  formulated  by  the  '  head.' 

What  else  can  we  gather  from  the  illustration  with 
which  I  may  be  permitted  to  close?  Let  me  lift 
the  corner  of  a  veil  that  men  keep  down  generally, 
and  you  will  see  what  I  mean.  If  some  poor  souls, 
the  bloom  of  youth  still  ruddy  upon  them,  came  to 
you,  and  confessed,  with  the  awful  shudder  conveyed 
most  faintly  by  physical  gesture,  'We  have  been  at 
the  very  gates  of  hell,'  or,  'We  have  seen  hell  incar- 


362     MODERN   THOUGHT   AND   THE  CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

nate,'  you  would  know.  Fortunately,  or  unfortu- 
nately, I  have  encountered  this  satanic  work  more 
than  once  and,  like  my  boyhood  friend,  Henry 
Drummond,  "have  felt  that  I  must  go  and  change 
my  very  clothes  after  the  contact."  '  Here  we  have 
another  process,  down,  not  up,  but,  in  its  subtle 
movement,  identical  essentially  with  the  Christian 
ascent.  For,  "identical  conditions  produce  the 
hero  and  the  coward."  ^  He  who  exclaims  rashly, 
"  Evil,  be  thou  my  good ! "  also  senses  the  eternal  in 
self,  if  to  dire  purpose.  Now,  ask  the  father  of  any 
vicious  lad,  the  mother  of  any  light  girl,  whether 
these  things  are  true,  whether  they  stand  in  need  of 
'  proof.'  You  will  find  that  they  know,  alas !  The 
power  of  creative  emotion  witnesses  itself;  and 
this  power,  at  its  tensest,  patient  to  endure  from  day 
to  day  through  the  commonest  worries  of  mortal 
chance,  forms  at  once  the  supposition  and  the 
achievement  of  any  'Christian  truth'  worth  the 
name.  "Inward  and  spiritual  grace"  shines  by 
its  own  light.  It  knows,  yet  is  unable  to  explain, 
recognizing  that  explanations  fail  to  satisfy  the 
'head,'  because,  manifestly,  they  fail  to  compass 
the  'heart.'     The  one  knows,  but  during  a  moment 

*  The  Life  of  Henry  Drummond,  George  Adam  Smith,  p.  11. 
^  The  Gospel  in  the  Gospels,  W.  P.  Du  Bose,  p.  89. 


THE    VALLEY    OF    BLESSING  363 

only,  for,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  other  punc- 
tuates every  proposition  with  discontent;  and  then 
a  new  effort  at  truth  becomes  inevitable.  Fresh 
sheaves  are  fetched  to  the  threshing  floor  daily, 
otherwise  the  kernel  of  ideal,  eternal  fact  would  go 
to  powder,  and  lose  its  living  essence  amid  the 
elusive,  superficial  chaff.  But  we,  the  latest  har- 
vest, must  supply  new  grain  for  sustenance  and 
seeding,  even  if  its  value  may  not  have  been  struck 
as  yet. 

Nay  more,  on  this  threshing  floor  those  who  pul- 
sate with  the  sacrificial  throb  of  the  race  hasten  to  take 
the  shoes  from  off  their  feet,  for  the  place  whereon 
they  stand  is  holy  ground.  Here  the  elemental 
human  spirit  has  been  released  through  ages,  to 
live  on  at  this  moment  an  inherent  part  of  the  palpi- 
tating present  reality.  Here,  for  the  Christian  con- 
sciousness, the  eternal  Christ  inhabits,  a  pervasive 
influence  able  to  mould  all  souls  to  its  translucent 
nature.  Here  men  hang  their  picture  of  the  Christ- 
type,  the  wistful  shadow  brooding  on  the  face,  be- 
cause He  knows  only  too  well  that  His  brethren  must 
continue  in  His  sufferings  till  the  world's  end,  so 
be  they  would  achieve  some  vital  share  in  His  potent 
wholeness,  and  learn  from  it  how  to 

"  Give  consolation  in  this  woe  extreme," 


364     MODERN   THOUGHT  AND   THE   CRISIS   IN  BELIEF 

wrought  by  the  cold  touch  of  the  abstract  intellect. 
Here  the  captains  of  our  temporal  strife  meet 
martyrdom  in  their  transitive  personality.  As  for 
Him,  so  for  them, 

"The  age  in  which  they  live 
Will  not  forgive 

The  splendour  of  the  everlasting  light 
That  makes  their  foreheads  bright, 
Nor  the  sublime  forerunning  of  their  time." 

The  glorious  unity  wherein  they  are  thus  lost,  to 
find  their  truest  selves,  seals  the  promise  of  that 
final  consummation,  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  now 
in  the  winning.  So  His  creation  striveth  —  creat- 
ing Him.  And,  if  the  mystics  be  few,  the  wand- 
bearers  many,  let  us  remember  constantly  that  the 
few  must  receive  from  the  many  that  human  extract 
whence  they  distil  their  message  of  new  hope, 
bringing  the  Christ  near,  because  expressing  His 
secret  in  contemporary  language,  moods,  and  as- 
pirations. 


Date  Due 

1  'i  ".      i    '•  V 

<l) 

HUIIIIH 


I  Theological  Semmary-Speei 


1012  01006  1960 


1,11 


